The CTMO & CTRO Era: What to Do About It

The CTMO & CTRO Era: What to Do About It

In the last few weeks, I’ve brushed shoulders with growth leaders from some of the world’s biggest B2B tech brands across multiple events and roundtables. And the key feedback I keep hearing?

“Yes, the market’s been massively disrupted by AI, U.S. tariff mayhem, and the increasing pressure of those godforsaken words—‘Do more with less.’ But what the hell do I actually do about it?”

Enough with the theory. We’ve had enough of philosophical AI.

I’m taking the phrase “CTMO” from our client, Ben Munroe, APAC CMO of Cloudflare, because it’s just too delicious not to use. It captures the moment perfectly. The age of the Chief Tech Marketing Officer is here; where marketers are as fluent in APIs as they are in ABX, and where ‘ad spend’ now sits next to ‘prompt engineering’ on the growth agenda. So, enough of AI as a fluffy theory. The reality is that we’ve all got to become a little more technologist.

So here’s a message for the CTMOs, CTROs, and the bold HOTS (Heads of Tech Sales) out there: it’s a difficult and overwhelming time, yes. But it’s also one brimming with opportunity… as long as you’re willing to seize it. The era of the willful MQL chasers and paid media abusers is over. It’s time to shake things up.

Experiment. Experiment. Experiment.

Echoing Signals from the Frontline

“Too many marketers are trying to optimize their way through disruption – when what we really need is to build our way through it. The modern CMO is part marketer, part technologist. Incrementalism isn’t hesitation — it’s momentum you can control.”
– Ben Munroe, Cloudflare

“Everyone’s rushing into AI. There’s no adoption curve anymore – everyone’s already there. There’s so much FOMO, or as someone said last night, ‘ROMO’ (the relief of missing out)”
– Charles Kinsella

“You’ll need two websites soon – one for AI, one for humans. Half of what we’re putting out now is written for a robot.”
– Andrew Birmingham, MI3

“Opening is the new closing. It’s no longer about who can close the deal – it’s about who opens the right conversation.”
– Graham Hawkins, Founder, Qoos AI & Gro3

Welcome to the New Buyer’s Journey

In 2025, the first moment most B2B buyers begin researching no longer starts on Google. It starts in Gen AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude etc. And this is reshaping consumer behavior and expectation. Personalization isn’t craved, it’s expected.

If your brand isn’t being cited in LLMs and if you’re not serving meaningful and tailored, impactful content through ABX, your brand is invisible or irrelevant.

That’s the new reality: Content is the king, the queen and the whole royal party. And efficacy is the new silver bullet.

It’s time to audit, disrupt, and innovate. Brand relevance, long-term nurture, and true ABX are finally winning over short-term lead gen. And sales-marketing alignment isn’t conversation anymore – it’s critical.

The New Reality: From Brand Relevance to True ABX

1. Shift from Performance to Brand

Less ‘spend and hope’, more ‘signal and serve.

The smartest brands are rebalancing. Shifting budget from pure performance marketing to long-term brand building to ensure that when buyers are in-market, they’ve already selected you as a contender.

Our recent panel at the APAC B2B Marketing Leaders Forum found that Cloudflare, Twilio and Red Hat are all investing in Gen AI Optimization (GEO) to strengthen visibility inside AI ecosystems.

This isn’t about going broad – it’s about going smart. Layer behavioral, firmographic, intent, and LLM data to refine audiences and build journeys that pre-empt and mirror buyer needs.

2. Go Back to the Basics (and Interrogate the Approach)

ABX without the right intelligence is just expensive advertising.

Now AI is taking control of buyer discovery, the fundamentals matter more than ever. So ground your strategies in data that actually matters – from LLM visibility to market and engagement insights and a clear map of the buying committee.

Why? Because true ABX isn’t about serving ads to known companies and hoping you catch those in market (based on what your sales teams tell you). It’s about anticipating intent and perception signals before they surface. And meeting buyers where they are.

As B2B Tech decision-making is becoming decentralized and the committee is growing into roles you’d normally deprioritize, like HR. The hidden funnel and buyers are becoming more important than ever to demystify.

“It’s not just about AI – it’s about integrating everything we do and really understanding the mechanics of the buying committee.” says Sulo Hardie, VP Marketing APAC at SAP Concur. “Agentic AI (ROI DNA Ignite) gives us a huge leap in how we connect our value proposition and messaging. The next challenge is turning that intelligence into personalized plans and scalable execution.”

By connecting LLM data, 3rd party intent data and CRM intelligence via dashboards and AI platforms like Gemini, Notebook LM and Chat GPT, you can build a wealth of insights for ABX that feels personal, timely, and memorable.

3. Practice Brave Incrementalism

“If you’re not trying, you’re already behind.” – Ben Munroe, Cloudflare

Another quotable phrase from Ben Munroe (thank you – paying it forward): this is the era of brave incrementalism – moving fast and thoughtfully through strategic experimentation is the only path to growth.

Apply it to Generative AI optimization and true ABX by:

Testing how AI models surface your brand across ecosystems.
Aligning marketing, sales, and customer teams around shared learning loops.
Leveraging AI to build more personalized journeys, faster.
Turning experimentation into evidence.

“Brave incrementalism isn’t hesitation. It’s momentum you can control.”

4. Leverage AI-Powered Intelligence for Deeper Targeting and Resonance

“Reports are like cheese—they start to smell bad if you don’t get them out of the drawer.” – Ben Munroe, Cloudflare

Forward-thinking brands like Cloudflare are using AI-powered intelligence to build broader yet deeper resonance.

Working with Hotwire & ROI·DNA, they’ve scaled ABX (or ABE) by layering industry, account, and stakeholder insights to design hyper-personalized journeys that move faster and convert better. Turning reports into relationships… and to revenue.

By generating custom persona and industry reports in days – not weeks – Cloudflare is 3x faster to market and has sped up execution, sharpened targeting, and deepened relevance across priority buying committees for $60m worth of market opportunity.

5. Rethink Sales as Part of Brand Building

“The marketing-sales handshake is the engine of authenticity.” – Nicholas Kontopoulos, Twilio

As Graham Hawkins, Founder of Gro3 and Qoos AI noted in our recent Growth Leader roundtable, buyers are forming opinions before sales even show up.

Sales and marketing must mirror one another, reinforcing a consistent story from awareness through conversion.

Mel Ivory, Swoogo’s APAC Sales Director calls this “the human loop”: marketing builds trust; sales extends it.

And as Nicholas Kontopoulos, CMO of Twilio, argues: most CMOs talk customer-centricity, but few treat sales alignment as a superpower.

In the era of AI theory and practicality, that sales and marketing alignment grounds every brand promise in customer reality.

Closing Thoughts

The CTMO and CTRO era isn’t about titles, it’s about evolution. It’s about curiosity over complacency. Velocity over vanity metrics. Collaboration over silos.

The leaders who thrive won’t optimize their way through disruption – they’ll build their way through it.

So go on. Question everything. Test the untested. Break a few things.

Because the future isn’t waiting for you to catch up – it’s already experimenting without you.