105: Josh Hill: Mastering martech with a hands-on, exploratory approach and rigorous data hygiene

What’s up everyone, today we’re chatting with Josh Hill, a GTM operations and tech executive with more than 20 years of experience in B2B sales, marketing, and technology.

Summary: Josh delved into how integrating sales experience into marketing strategies leads to more customer-centric approaches. He highlighted the importance of hands-on experience with martech tools, blending marketing creativity with technical know-how, and the significance of high-quality data for effective AI implementation in marketing. He shared his journey of juggling personal projects with professional growth, striking a chord on maintaining work-life balance in a high-octane career. This episode is a backstage pass for anyone in martech, offering practical insights and strategies to take center stage in this mad world of martech.

About Josh

• Josh started his career in enterprise sales at The Economist before moving to a demand gen role where he wore many different hats including martech and database management 
• He then had a few short stints at different software and cybersecurity companies touching everything from SEO, SEM, content, branding, email deliverability and data quality
• He was also a solopreneur and consulted with senior marketing and sales leaders at B2B SaaS companies 
• Josh is best known for creating the marketingrockstarguides blog for 7 years, one of the top blogs supporting marketing technologists, before it’s acquisition by Etumos a marketing automation consultancy
• Most recently, Josh spent 7.5 years at RingCentral moving up to Associate VP of Martech where he built and led a globally distributed center of excellence to scale GTM and Martech architecture
• Today Josh serves as an Advisor at Openprise, a RevOps data automation platform for enterprise

Leveraging Sales Experience for Marketing Success

Josh's career trajectory from sales to marketing is a story that demonstrates the value of cross-functional skills in today's business world. His time at The Economist, where he honed his skills in account renewal and new business acquisition, laid a solid foundation for his later transition to marketing. Josh highlights the importance of direct customer interactions and negotiation skills developed in sales, which provided him with a unique perspective and skill set. These skills proved to be invaluable as he moved into marketing, particularly in stakeholder management and vendor relations.

In his sales role, Josh realized a disconnect between marketing materials and customer perceptions. This insight led him to rethink the approach to customer engagement, moving away from traditional sales pitches to a more content-focused marketing strategy. His success in sales, where he was one of the top representatives, stemmed from aligning customer needs with marketing messages, an approach he sought to scale in his marketing role.

Josh's transition was not just a shift in job functions but a broader business transformation. He emphasized the importance of aligning sales and marketing, leveraging marketing automation tools, and understanding the nuances of demand generation. His hands-on experience with attribution reporting and CRM systems further enriched his marketing expertise. Josh's journey is a testament to the benefits of integrating technology and customer service experiences into marketing strategies.

Key takeaway: Josh's transition from sales to marketing at The Economist underscores the value of integrating sales insights into marketing strategies. By utilizing his direct customer interactions and negotiation skills acquired in sales, he crafted marketing approaches that were more aligned with customer needs and expectations. This fusion of sales and marketing perspectives proved crucial in developing effective, customer-centric marketing strategies, demonstrating the importance of cross-functional skills in the martech industry.

Building a Respected Martech Resource: Marketing Rockstar Guides

Josh's journey in the martech world is a remarkable story of how personal branding and content marketing can converge to create a powerful platform. His blog, Marketing Rockstar Guides, emerged as a response to the growing curiosity and challenges professionals faced in understanding and utilizing marketing technology tools effectively. Recognizing the gap in practical, hands-on knowledge, Josh leveraged his own experiences and insights to create a resource that would demystify complex martech concepts for a broader audience.

Initially, Josh's venture into content creation was fueled by his innate ability to understand and implement emerging martech tools, a skill that many in the industry were struggling with. His hands-on approach to learning by doing became the cornerstone of his content strategy. He began addressing common workflow problems and providing solutions through his blog, quickly transforming it into an essential resource for martech professionals. This move not only established him as a thought leader but also laid the groundwork for his first consulting gig, showcasing the power of sharing knowledge.

As the blog grew, it became a significant inbound engine for his consulting business, attracting professionals who were grateful for the practical guidance it offered. Topics on the blog often stemmed from community questions, reflecting Josh's commitment to addressing real-world problems and aiding career development in the martech sector. This engagement also opened doors for speaking opportunities, further solidifying his position as an expert in the field.

However, managing a growing platform while balancing a full-time job became a challenge for Josh. His decision to pass on the baton of his blog was not an easy one, but it was a strategic move to ensure the continuity of the resource he had built. The sale of the blog marked a new phase in his career, as he began exploring other content platforms and mediums, like LinkedIn, to continue sharing valuable insights in the evolving martech landscape.

Key takeaway: Josh's creation and eventual sale of Marketing Rockstar Guides is a testament to the impact of sharing expertise and practical solutions in the martech industry. His approach demonstrates the power of content marketing and personal branding in building a respected resource, while also highlighting the challenges of balancing personal projects with professional commitments.

The Practicality of Hands-On Martech Experience

Josh's insights into the martech world emphasize the invaluable role of hands-on experience in mastering marketing technology. His journey, particularly during his early days at The Economist, showcases the significance of directly engaging with tools and processes to understand and improve them. This hands-on approach, he believes, is crucial for anyone looking to excel in the martech field.

Initially, Josh tackled attribution by manually analyzing data within a limited scope, using tools like Salesforce campaigns. This process, though time-consuming, was instrumental in understanding the effectiveness of various marketing tactics, such as content types and event charges. This hands-on experience allowed him to develop a deep understanding of low-level attribution, leading to more effective marketing strategies and cost reductions.

However, Josh advises against relying solely on manual processes. Instead, he encourages a 'play to learn' approach, advocating for exploration and experimentation with martech tools. This involves questioning every step of a process, from sending an email to capturing data for a white paper. By understanding the components and mechanics of these tasks, martech professionals can more effec...