Innovative Marketing Leadership: It is okay to think outside the box but make sure you don't create surprises (episode #82)

Jan 8, 2024

In this episode, the guest shares her experience of putting herself in the customer's shoes and emphasizes the need for marketing leaders to think outside the box without creating surprises. The importance of involving stakeholders and building empathy with customers is also discussed. Collaboration in marketing and achieving success through curiosity and collaboration are highlighted. The significance of effective communication, father's influence, being present, and key qualities of an effective marketer are explored.

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ANECDOTE

Food Truck Campaign Surprise

Sarah Hodges ran a food truck campaign at Autodesk targeting construction sites.
It was successful but surprised the CEO due to lack of brand alignment, highlighting the need for buy-in.

ADVICE

Gaining Buy-in for Innovative Ideas

Think outside the box and innovate, but ensure buy-in from stakeholders.
Avoid surprising senior executives; get their support early on.

ADVICE

Building Internal Credibility

When selling a plan internally, be vulnerable and collaborative.
Share the plan's pros, cons, and uncertainties to build trust and gain buy-in.

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Any industry, and our marketing industry is no exception, has a pack mentality. We say certain buzzwords and share certain ideas.

But we can hear them ad nauseam, to the point where they just wash over us and don’t really mean anything. We nod in agreement at a networking event with a drink in our hand, but do we actually do anything about it the next day?

Not really. We’re back to going through the motions executing a campaign, buried in email and Slack notifications.

Here’s one such commonly heard phrase – ‘put yourself in the customer’s shoes.’ How many times have you heard that?

Now, how many times have you really done it?

Well, this episode’s guest has. She literally got out of the office, put on the customers’ shoes – or in this case, steel-toed boots – and experienced what her customers’ day is really like.

I talked to Sarah Hodges, CMO, Procore Technologies (https://www.procore.com/), about that experience, along with many more lessons from her career.

Procore Technologies is a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It reported $720 million in revenue in 2022, an increase of 40% year-over-year. More than $1 trillion in construction volume has run on its construction management software platform.

Hodges manages a team of 300 people.

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

Some lessons from Hodges that emerged in our discussion:

It is okay to think outside the box but make sure you don't create surprises!
To grow as a marketing leader, make the leap to new, unfamiliar, even uncomfortable roles
You have to walk in your customer's shoes.... LITERALLY.
Set and declare your expectations
Coach and simply ask questions, don’t dictate
Believe in yourself

Related content discussed in this episode

Create innovative marketing using AI technology paired with MECLABS consumer psychology. Get a free trial to the AI Guild at MECLABS.com/AI (MECLABS is the parent organization of MarketingSherpa).

Transparent Marketing: How to make your product claims credible … not incredible (https://marketingexperiments.com/value-proposition/transparent-credible-product-claims)

The Hidden Upside of the COVID-19 Crisis for Brands and Marketers: 10 opportunities (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/other/hidden-upside-COVID-crisis-brands-marketers-10-opportunities)

Consumer Financial Services Marketing: Your customer is your most important stakeholder (podcast episode #39) (https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/consumer)

Marketing 101: What is influencer marketing? (https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/social-media-marketing-2/marketing-101-what-is-influencer-marketing/)

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