343: Digital Marketing Academy, with Jacqueline Cook

Did you know that Conquer Local has its very own Digital Marketing Academy? It's a game-changer because the SaaS industry changes under our feet.

We have Jacqueline Cook (Jackie), Chief Strategy Officer at Vendasta, on the podcast to discuss the strategy behind the Conquer Local Academy. After some research and listening to digital marketing agencies and entrepreneurs from different areas of the world, there was a realization that there was a need in the space for a digital marketing academy. It needed to be all-encompassing of various digital solutions that intertwine frequently. The Academy is built into a culture that embraces a community that agencies and entrepreneurs can grow and learn in. People learn differently; some learn by reading about it, and some want to watch videos at 2 am. The Academy was created to accommodate different learners in the way they want to learn, and on their time.

She works with the CEO to shape Vendasta's long term strategy and to align both the culture, organizational design, and company metrics toward those long-term objectives. Jacqueline works across a number of diverse teams to execute cross-functional initiatives, collect and share key customer insights, and test new initiatives to drive Vendasta's growth levers. She is also the General Manager of the of Vendasta's high-growth mid-market customer segment, which currently contributes over half of the company's revenue and includes marketing, sales, success, support, and four product teams. Most recently, Jacqueline played a major role in Vendasta's $40M growth funding round, which marks the single largest technology investment in the prairies since the Canadian Venture Capital Private Equity Association (CVCA) started collecting data in 2013. Jacqueline is an alumnus of The Next 36 Entrepreneurial Institute, Canada's premier entrepreneurial leadership initiative. During the program, she co-founded and was CEO of Triumf Mobile Rewards: a tablet and Smartphone-based platform for small and medium-sized businesses to customize their own loyalty rewards programs. She has been a speaker at events such as Tejo Talks, sponsored by Canada's Embassy to Portugal as part of Web Summit, TEDx UofS and WE DAY, and has represented Canada at the 2010 G8 and G20 Summits, the 2010 APEC Summit in Japan, and at the 2011 G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit in France.

Jacqueline has been a recipient of CBC Saskatchewan's Future 40 under 40 and a YWCA Women of Distinction Award and serves on the board of Co.Labs, Saskatchewan's first technology incubator. She was recently named as one of Betakit's Canadian women in tech worth watching.

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