Speaking
Question Marketing
How to challenge frustrations and raise expectations. A session for rooms full of executives who are tired of paying for marketing they can't measure, delivered to Vistage groups, peer boards and conference stages nationwide.
You chair a Vistage group
You want a session your members talk about at the next meeting, not one they politely sit through. I'm an approved Vistage Worldwide speaker and a Chief Executive member since 2019, so I know what a good group day feels like from inside the room.
Check availability →You program a conference
You need a session that isn't the fourth vendor pitch of the morning. This one gives an audience of executives a framework they can use on Monday, and it does it without a single slide asking them to scan a QR code.
Talk about your event →Stages
Rooms I’ve had
Vistage Worldwide
CE · SB · KEY · TA groups
CES
Las Vegas
SXSW
Austin
Digital Atlanta
WordCamp Chicago
Ignite Denver
The Oriental Theater
Denver Startup Week
Which is a wide range on purpose. A CES audience and a Vistage group want very different things from the same forty minutes, and the session flexes accordingly.
The session
Your audience is frustrated with marketing.
They’re not wrong.
Chronic failure, poor conversion rates, mounting costs, reams of seemingly meaningless data, and broken promises, all without a path to measurable ROI. That’s the experience most business leaders have actually had, which is why the word “marketing” gets a groan in a room of executives.
This session doesn’t defend marketing. It explains why it keeps failing them, and then hands them a way to demand better, with higher expectations and moreaccountability, not less. Four out of five CEOs don’t trust their marketing leadership. I’ve been on both sides of that, and I say so out loud.
Built to be used, not admired
Three things they take back to the office
A decision framework
The Rule of Four: the four-part test every marketing tactic has to pass before it earns a place on the plan. Most rooms start applying it before the session ends.
Budgeting guidelines
How to size a marketing budget against what a customer is actually worth, rather than a percentage of revenue somebody read once.
A way to prioritize
Which stage of the buying journey each tactic really serves, and why getting that wrong is where most wasted spend comes from.
Formats
One argument, three sizes
It’s the same session underneath. What changes is how much of it the room gets to practise before they leave.
45–60 minutes
Keynote
The full argument, delivered to a room. Works as an opener or a closer; better as an opener, because people tend to argue about it for the rest of the day.
90 minutes
Workshop
Also fine as a conference breakout. The talk plus live application. Attendees run their own tactics through The Rule of Four, and most kill at least one before they leave.
3–4 hours
Half-day session
For groups that want to leave with the beginnings of an actual plan rather than a good mood.
Virtual delivery works for the keynote and the breakout. The half-day really needs a room.
Learning objectives
What we cover
It’s a working session. Expect to be asked questions, not just given answers.
- Understanding failure points in marketing
- Developing healthy, functional relationships with marketing employees and vendors, with HIGHER expectations and MORE accountability
- How to connect with your marketplace
- How to effectively “make your case” to your target audience and increase chances of success
- How to delegate responsibility effectively within your marketing roles
- How to align sales and marketing
- How to set, prioritize and communicate marketing goals
The scores
Vistage scores every speaker. Here are all four of mine.
Averaged across 12 sessions, most recently July 2026. Rated out of five by the members in the room, not by me.
4.66
Content
Quality of content
4.37
Delivery
Quality of delivery
4.61
Applicability
Relevance to my business
97%
Recommend
Would recommend to another group
Ninety-seven percent would put me in front of another group.
What members said
“I’ve been a Vistage member in this same group for about 5 years now. Erik’s presentation is in my top 3.”
Vistage member
“Erik helped me develop a deeper understanding of marketing and the relationship it has with every function of the company.”
Vistage member
Experience
What I bring to your event
Spoken in rooms and stages across the country, from 10-person Vistage groups to national conference stages: CES and SXSW down to a five-minute Ignite talk at the Oriental Theater, where I used the F-word more than a dozen times in front of a full house. I mention that mostly so you know what you’re booking.
I bring more than twenty-five years in marketing: from running a corporate marketing communications department to launching a global brand still on shelves at Target and Walmart, running an award-winning agency for eighteen years, writing four books, and teaching as an adjunct marketing professor… So I have a lot of experience to draw from and a lot of lessons I can impart on your group or audience.
As a Vistage speaker, I also come with more than 7 years experience as an active Vistage CE member and a unique perspective on the Vistage community, having interviewed more than 100 chairs as the host of the ChairWaves podcast.
Tell me about your room
Your date, your audience, and how long you’ve got. I’ll tell you honestly whether this session is right for them, and if it isn’t, I probably know who is.