How to Justify Brand Spend in the Dark Funnel with Kimberly Storin

The B2B CMO Podcast with Jon Miller and Sydney Sloan · 2026-08-21 · 43 min

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Topics in this episode

SaaS B2B chief marketing officer CMO marketing leader

Episode notes

Kimberly Storin is the CMO at Zoom, the AI-first work platform for human connection. Kimberly leads Zoom’s brand, communications, product marketing, enterprise marketing, and regional marketing teams. Previously, she was Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Zayo, and also spent time as a consultant with Deloitte. Kimberly joins Sydney Sloan to discuss how to build your brand in the era of the dark funnel, how to fight for end-user mental availability, and why B2B marketers need to leverage some of the key learnings from B2C marketing around creative. Episode Takeaways Kimberly's B2B brand-building framework has four components: Be Found, Be Present, Be Believed, and Be Preferred. This model helps sales leaders, GMs, and the CEO understand why 75% of GTM effort must happen before a buyer ever raises their hand, since B2B buying now happens almost entirely in the "dark funnel." Vet leadership's view of strategy before accepting a CMO role, not after.