The Marketer's Journey

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Bethany Walsh, VP of Marketing at Alloy. Bethany identifies as an early stage marketer and has a lot of experience being the “first, second, or third” marketer at early stage companies. She likes to build, problem solve and scale companies. This is something that sounds appealing to a lot of people but Bethany knows it can be scary in practice marketing without much support, data or establishment. Alloy had raised 40 million in Series B funding before even bringing in any marketing support, so she had challenges in front of her when she took on the role. Today we discuss these challenges, along with the excitement and the opportunities of growing an early stage company. We also discuss brand tone and how you ensure it remains consistent throughout your organization.Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play! Key takeaways from this episode:When you’re marketing through a private equity roll out, it’s important to bring confidence to investors. Make yourself visible, and ensure you have a voice.Bethany brings a builder mentally to her roles and she knows she is best suited for early stage marketing but you can bring a builder attitude to later stage organizations too. Consider how to employ this mindset and remain agile and adaptable in your marketing. When thinking of your brand tone, consider the concept of relationship building. If you’re meeting someone for the first time you don’t start out telling jokes or puns, you introduce yourself with your name and once you know them better you loosen up. If you don’t know your audience, be straightforward, give the facts and share what they’re looking for, until they know you a bit better.It’s important that at every single stage in the buyer journey brand tone is considered and you take steps within your communication to make sure it remains consistent.Learn more about Alloy here: https://alloy.co/Learn more about Bethany here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/babarker/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Robin Daniels, CMO of Matterport. Robin has enjoyed an impressive career and earned the right to work with brands such as Salesforce, WeWork and Linkedin. The core threads that have tied his career together have been the pursuit of bringing people together through technology and working with tech and products that are taking off to shape their journey. As a marketing leader, he finds it easier to tell a human story around tech and products that are bringing people together and have a human element and knows that storytelling and messaging are key to product marketing.Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play! Key takeaways from this episode:It all comes down to the story you’re trying to tell in the market. Storytelling should be focused around making your product more human and more customer-centric. It should make you come across like you care about your customer’s story.You don’t have to stay in one industry, you just have to find something you’re passionate about and that you want to pursue-- for Robin this was bringing people together and creating connectivity.Product marketing “should be a circle”. It’s about making things consistent at their core. Your story at the top of your funnel should be the same at the bottom of your funnel.Learn more about Matterport here: https://matterport.com/Learn more about Robin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robingdaniels/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Allison MacLeod, EVP of Global Marketing at Flywire. Allison rose to her current role by constantly pursuing education and ensuring she was advocating for herself and putting her hand up for new opportunities. On this episode, we discuss her career journey and philosophies before diving into the true meaning of marketing globally and the perks and challenges of leading and marketing on a global scale. Flywire goes to market in verticals and takes a “squad based” approach that allows them to ensure they aren’t working in silos and ultimately, that everyone stays connected with Flywire’s overall goals and objectives.  Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  It’s important to always raise your hand to try things- learn more, be open more. Value growth in learning and being challenged.  Flywire’s approach to product and marketing comes down to one core sentiment: you can’t work in silos. Everyone at a company must work in pursuit of a shared vision even if you’re performing different tasks.  As a global company, it’s important to understand your customers everywhere. Many companies have marketers in North America working to understand markets all over the world but it helps infinitely to have people on the ground in each market with a deep understanding of the demographic.  Learn more about Flywire here: https://www.flywire.com/  Learn more about Allison here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonbmacleod/  

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Deborah Singer, CMO of Girls Who Code, a unique and groundbreaking non-profit organization focused on getting more girls into STEM-focused education and career paths. Though Deborah started her career in the tech/startup world before joining Girls Who Code, she said one of the things that attracted her to the company was how it is run a lot more like a startup than a non-profit: it’s fast-paced, fast-growing, agile and ambitious. She also understands the importance of working with great people and says that she has landed in most of her roles from a desire to work with passionate individuals who challenge and empower her.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:Girls Who Code is an organization marketing to both corporate sponsors and young girls-- they know they have to do this very differently, using different channels. It’s important to understand where you’ll reach your audience segments and what you need to say to each of them rather than blasting your message across every channel.  No matter what you’re doing, passion is key. It’s important to be passionate about what we’re doing, or at least passionate about the influence we can drive and understanding of how we can give back.  We carve career paths for ourselves based on unexpected parallels. To many, it seemed like an unprecedented move for Deborah to move from a tech startup Lulu to nonprofit, Girls Who Code, but to her it made perfect sense. Lulu was disrupting the dating game for women, while Girls Who Code was looking to disrupt the tech industry for women.   Learn more about how Girls Who Code is creating opportunities for girls and women in tech here: https://girlswhocode.com/Learn more about Deborah here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahjsinger/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Rebecca Grimes, CMO at Ruby. Ruby is another company that had to quickly adapt their strategy and product offerings in order to find their footing and thrive through COVID-- and thrive, they did. Not only did Ruby’s team continue throughout the pandemic without laying anyone off, they actually brought on 200 new employees. Rebecca, who oversees both marketing and sales, said that they were able to do this by digging into data and creating customer profiles and products to align with the business segments that were still thriving. Adapting their business and understanding their buyer experience was integral to Ruby thriving in the “new abnormal”.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play! Key takeaways from this episode:  Marketing and sales should work hand and hand-- they should not be at odds. There should be no success you can celebrate that would not be a team success.  Staying in touch with your network throughout your career is important-- even if it doesn’t get you a job, the insights you can take from the learnings of your colleagues are invaluable, even if it’s just understanding why someone else took an opportunity.  There is value in customers even if they’re not ready to buy right now-- it’s important to find ways to provide value and content to these people so that they’ll be more likely to convert in the future.  Learn more about how Ruby can help your business here: https://www.ruby.com/Learn more about Rebecca here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalgrimes/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Duri Alajrami, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Moneris. Duri immigrated from Dubai to Canada and built an impressive career and wonderful family life that align with each other and make him proud. Though he started his career agency side, he recognizes that the shift to digital means brands are building out their own digital teams, sectors and in-house digital agencies, in many ways, slowly rendering digital agencies more and more obsolete. On today’s episode, we discuss the prominence of digital, his career and personal life, and most importantly, the way he thinks of the buyer journey and sales funnel at Moneris, when the lines between B2B and B2C solutions for the company have become so heavily blurred.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  90% of Canadians start their buyer journey online (and one of the things they’re often looking for is what kind of payments you accept) so we need to take a “digital dating” approach to marketing. Pull them into the funnel with strong digital first.  Historically, payment solutions companies' buyers are the merchants-- but these lines have become increasingly blurred, not only as payments solutions cater to small business owners but also they acknowledge they need to be creating a great experience for their end consumer, as well as their merchants. Balancing this is key.  In many ways, COVID-19 has humanized work and brought work and life together-although it can be a struggle for work life balance, it can also be positive. We are all in each other’s homes and working together to maintain balance.   Learn more about Moneris’s payment solutions here: https://www.moneris.com/Learn more about Duri at https://www.linkedin.com/in/duriajrami/?originalSubdomain=ca

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Soraya Alexander,  SVP of Marketing and Customer Growth at Classy. Soraya has not had a traditional path to a senior marketing role. In her own words, her career has been a little “random” and all over the place, spanning PR, media, big business and marketing, and she says she still doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up. But she is hungry to learn and ensures whatever role she is in, she is constantly learning so she takes something to her next role. In her current role at Classy, she is focused not just on customer acquisition but on customer retention and growth. Soraya knows that customer marketing is an undervalued tool that often allows for faster growth than customer acquisition.    Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  For 80% of your working days your job is to accumulate enough knowledge and experience as you can, and eventually it will all make sense. Focus on what’s fun, what’s interesting, do your best and the next step will materialize.  When you’re an established company, customer acquisition is easy. True growth comes from a deep understanding about your customers. There is a lot of opportunity post-sale to grow with your customers by continually deepening your relationship with your them.   It takes 3x more dollars to acquire a new customer than to retain a current one. Nurturing the customers you have turns them into advocates and can be a good customer acquisition tool in itself.  Learn more about Classy’s fundraising software at https://www.classy.org/Learn more about Soraya at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sorayagalexander/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Samantha Goldman, VP of Marketing at breather. breather is a company that provides spaces for people to work, so during the pandemic, it’s been more important than ever for them to have a truly strategic marketing leader who knows her team has to be mobilized and able to work collaboratively--wherever they all may be. Before her time at breather, Samantha held senior marketing roles at Lyft and Castlight Health. In her current role she is working through the pandemic as breather iterates on their product offerings to keep people everywhere connected.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  Giving people access is the trait that all tech companies share. Whether it’s access to credit, transportation, healthcare or office space, technology exists to provide people with access.“When there’s a rocket ship you get on the rocket ship” even if it’s not the perfect role, when grand opportunity knocks, you get on and find a place for yourself.Throughout the pandemic, we have gotten great at working remotely but the next phase of things will find people trying to figure out how to work in a “hybrid” approach with some people fully remote and some people coming into the office.Learn more about breather here: https://breather.com/ Learn more about Samantha here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-goldman/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Susanne Gurman, SVP of Marketing at SecurityScorecard. Susanne spent ten years working as a marketer at an established company, but eventually, despite what she had learned and the opportunities she had been afforded, she felt that she had taken the position to its ceiling and made the leap to leave the company. She did not have a job lined up when she left but took the time to rebrand herself and understand her goals before eventually joining the team at SecurityScorecard. On today’s episode we talk about the importance of being unafraid of failure, how to build your personal brand, and marketing tactics field marketers are exploring throughout the pandemic, with buyers becoming too “Zoom fatigued” to bother with virtual events.  Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play! Key takeaways from this episode: Field marketing has a reputation about being all about events, but there is more to it than that, and especially during COVID, we have had to fill in the gaps with supplementary tactics that drive leads. Since we don’t have physical events to fall back on, it’s important to consider how we create like-minded experiences with our buyers with similar touchpoints and opportunities to get them into the funnel. One of the key ways to take buyers on this journey is with content. As a marketer, your personal brand is extremely important. The first thing you are marketing should be yourself. Learn more about SecurityScorecard here: https://securityscorecard.com/ Learn more about Susanne here: https://securityscorecard.com/company/leadership/susanne-gurman 

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Rishi Dave, CMO at MongoDB. Rishi credits his time at Dell with shaping his journey to becoming a CMO. It’s where he worked his first marketing job, with a higher up eventually taking a chance on him and providing him with a platform to become the marketer he is today. In his current role, Rishi knows that the success of his company is built on two things: a great product and a great go-to-market strategy. On today’s episode, we chat through the particulars of the different types of go-to-market strategies, what it’s like working at a high growth company, and relying on your wife to help you take time off.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  Answering to a board can seem scary but your board just wants you to succeed in driving growth for the company. Focus on working with your team to drive growth and communicating effectively with the board. That’s all you need to do.  It’s important to keep in mind that users should be able to choose how they want to interact with your company, and it’s the job of a good marketing team to ensure that you’re not stepping on each other’s toes and duplicating efforts.  As a CMO and a marketer in general, it’s important to try new things but you will likely gravitate towards companies at a certain stage because this will define your roles and responsibilities.  Learn more about MongoDB here: https://www.mongodb.com/.   Learn more about Rishi here:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/rdave/.