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About Fara Howard

Chief Marketing Officer at Gusto

Compiled from 21 entries (2 videos, 19 articles) / updated 1d ago / v1

Fara Howard is the Chief Marketing Officer at Gusto, previously CMO at GoDaddy, with over 20 years of experience starting at Gatorade, renowned for reimagining small business marketing through bold storytelling and customer-centric strategies. She emphasizes actionable insights derived from human truths over raw data, iteration through failure, and investing deeply in authentic narratives to drive business success. Her leadership highlights modern marketing's shift toward AI integration, velocity in high-stakes campaigns like Super Bowl ads, and empowering risk-taking.

Customer-Centric Insights and Storytelling

Fara Howard stresses that true insights are 'hidden truths' requiring human connection beyond mere data, urging marketers to dig deeper by asking 'why' to uncover actionable understanding.[10][8] At GoDaddy, she invested deeply in customers, handing them 'the key to your business' through co-creation and storytelling that resonates emotionally.[3][17][15] She advises future leaders to 'invest in storytelling' and act as interpreters, translating customer needs into compelling narratives.[8][11]

Iteration, Failure, and Actionable Marketing

Iteration is key to success, with failure as an essential part of the process; no one can claim expertise in data-driven marketing today due to its rapid evolution.[10] Howard advocates retaining humanity in storytelling amid AI changes, adapting the marketing playbook for shifting consumption habits.[9][13] She promotes modern leadership that enables risk-taking to push business boundaries.[15][16]

High-Impact Campaigns and Super Bowl Strategy

GoDaddy's Super Bowl campaigns under Howard focused on velocity over mere visibility, promoting tools like Airo for small businesses and driving significant traffic surges, earning her CMO 50 2025 recognition.[4][6][14][20] These efforts elevated brand prominence through bold, non-celebrity-driven ads emphasizing small business success.[4]

Leadership and Career Philosophy

From Gatorade to GoDaddy and now Gusto, Howard embodies bold leadership, inspiring women with advice like 'do it scared' and praising mentors as incredible marketers.[5][12][16][17][19] She views marketing's primary role as understanding customers deeply, fostering internal creative teams and board-level influence.[3][12][18]

AI, Modern Marketing, and Small Business Empowerment

Howard discusses AI's role in search ads and changing playbooks, retooling teams for new realities while championing small business stories like side hustles.[9][7][18] Her work at GoDaddy reimagined small business success through innovative tools and narratives.[7]

Key themes

Actionable Insights as Hidden Truths

Insights require human interpretation beyond data, focusing on 'why' for customer connection.

  • An insight isn't a fact. It's a hidden truth. Keep digging. Ask why.[10]

  • Invest deeply in your customer.[3]

Storytelling and Humanity in Marketing

Prioritize authentic narratives and act as interpreter for emotional resonance.

  • Invest in Storytelling, Be an Interpreter.[8]

  • Retain humanity in storytelling.[10]

Iteration Through Failure

Success comes from failing forward in rapidly evolving data-driven marketing.

  • Failing is just part of the process. Iteration is key.[10]

  • Enable risk-taking to push boundaries.[15]

Super Bowl and High-Velocity Campaigns

Focus on velocity and business tools over visibility in major ads.

  • Super Bowl ads about velocity, promoting Airo.[6][14]

  • Elevated GoDaddy's prominence.[4]

Customer Empowerment and Small Business Focus

Hand customers the keys, co-create success stories.

  • Hand your customer the key to your business.[17][15]

  • Reimagining small business success.[7][18]

Bold Leadership and Inspiration

Encourage 'do it scared,' inspire through mentorship.

  • Bold advice to aspiring women: 'Do it scared'.[16]

  • Inspiration from day one.[5]

Adapting to AI and Modern Shifts

Retool playbooks for AI search, changing habits.

  • Marketing playbook changing, AI search ads.[9]

  • No experts in data-driven marketing now.[10]

Sources (21)

Every entry that fed the multi-agent compile above. Inline citation markers in the wiki text (like [1], [2]) are not yet individually linked to specific sources — this is the full set of sources the compile considered.

  1. Shiny New Object - a Marketing Podcastarticle · 2026-04-14
  2. Attendees - Steve Van Doren & Fara Howard - Creative Morningsarticle · 2026-04-14
  3. Investing Deeply in Your Customer with GoDaddy's CMO Fara Howardarticle · 2026-04-14
  4. CMO 50 2025: Fara Howard | Campaign USarticle · 2026-04-14
  5. Fara Howard's Post - LinkedInarticle · 2026-04-14
  6. GoDaddy's CMO Fara Howard talks Super Bowl strategyarticle · 2026-04-14
  7. How Fara Howard is Reimagining Small Business Success - YouTubearticle · 2026-04-14
  8. GoDaddy CMO: Invest in Storytelling, Be an Interpreter - WSJarticle · 2026-04-14
  9. Marketing Briefing: A Q&A with GoDaddy CMO Fara Howard - Digidayarticle · 2026-04-14
  10. Shiny New Object - a Marketing Podcast: Failing on the way to getting it right - ft ex-GoDaddy's Fara Howardpodcast_episode · 2026-04-14
  11. GoDaddy CMO Fara Howard on modern marketing leadership ...article · 2026-04-14
  12. Fara Howard - Chief Marketing Officer, General Manager, Creative ...article · 2026-04-14
  13. We caught up with GoDaddy's CMO Fara Howard last week at ...article · 2026-04-14
  14. Super Bowl ads aren't just about visibility. Fara Howard, CMO of ...article · 2026-04-14
  15. How GoDaddy Enables Risk Taking to Push Business ... - YouTubearticle · 2026-04-14
  16. Meet Fara Howard, our Chief Marketing Officer. Her bold ... - Instagramarticle · 2026-04-14
  17. Why you need to hand your customer the key to your business with ...article · 2026-04-14
  18. “Do it scared”: Ryn Scull's sweet small business side hustle - GoDaddyarticle · 2026-04-14
  19. Interview with Fara Howard, Chief Marketing Officer of GoDaddyarticle · 2026-04-14
  20. CMO 50 2025: Fara Howard - Campaign USnews_article · 2026-04-14
  21. GoDaddy CMO: Invest in Storytelling, Be an Interpreter - WSJnews_article · 2026-04-14