#212: Marketing Leadership | Lessons for First-Time Marketing Leaders with Michael Cole, SVP of Everflow

In this episode, Dave sits down with Michael Cole, SVP of Marketing at Everflow, a partner marketing platform that helps companies manage referral and affiliate programs. Michael discusses his journey from being Everflow’s first marketing hire to leading a marketing team of 16, and shares strategies for building a marketing function from the ground up.Dave and Michael cover:How Everflow turns happy customers into referral partnersWhat it’s like to be a first-time marketing leaderBuilding a marketing function from scratchTimestamps(00:00) - - Introduction to Michael (06:10) - - Michael’s journey to marketing leadership (10:57) - - Understanding company growth before developing your strategy (14:01) - - Turning happy customers into referrals (18:06) - - Scaling a successful team (24:30) - - Referrals vs. paid ads (28:47) - - Organic vs. paid strategies (31:14) - - Growing organically and spreading through word-of-mouth (33:00) - - Finding complementary business partnerships (39:13) - - Enhancing content creation (42:13) - - Delegation and accountability in a strong team (43:12) - - Strategizing for growth (46:22) - - Closing remarks 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 Grammarly.Ever have one of those weeks where you spent more time replying to Slack and email than doing actual marketing work?You’re not alone. The average marketing team spends 28+ hours a week just keeping up with comms.That leads to burnout, frustration, and a whole lot of performative productivity that doesn’t actually move the needle.AI-fluent marketing teams are changing that. Grammarly’s 2025 Productivity Shift Report shows how they’re using AI to:– Cut down on back-and-forth– Automate content, research, and reporting– Eliminate busywork– Make space for strategyWe’re marketers because we love crafting campaigns, driving revenue, and proving impact – not spending all day buried in messages.Get the report and see how top teams are making AI actually useful.Visit go.grammarly.com/exitfive to grab it.***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more