The Marketer's Journey

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Anthony Kennada, CMO at Hopin. Hopin has exploded into the market, revolutionizing the digital events space. Not even two years after launching in only June of 2019, they raised 400 million dollars and are evaluated at an apparent 5.65 billion dollars. Anthony has always had a passion for events, dating back to prom committee in high school and planning concerts in college. He even left a role at Gainsight to build out an event tech startup but ultimately ended up joining Hopin as their CMO. On today’s episode, Randy and Anthony discuss how to frame your digital events as entertaining experiences and what our post-COVID world holds for the events industry.Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play! Key takeaways from this episode:Relationships are the most important currency in building your career. Value and nurture the people that are going to champion you and build you up throughout your careerYou can fight Zoom fatigue by considering what would make your event a unique experience. What will differentiate you and get people talking about it?Perfecting the formula for digital events is about packaging things specifically for digital first, not adding in digital as an afterthought, much like the sports industry does--digital viewers may not be as connected with their in-person community but they have a one of a kind viewing experience.Learn more about Hopin here: https://hopin.com/Learn more about Anthony here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akennada/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Melissa Hanson, VP of Marketing for Trimble Transportation. Trimble is a massive organization with a lot of employees. It has many different products spanning many different industries but they all focus on connecting the physical and digital world. Marketing for an organization of this size requires a very specific strategy and an understanding of when it makes sense to operate in silos and when it makes sense to operate autonomously, always keeping your customers in mind. On today’s episode, Melissa and I discuss her take on revenue marketing, and what it truly means for marketing and sales to work hand in hand.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  Melissa has been intentional about pursuing opportunities where she has questioned if she was ready because it’s important to recognize the opportunity and need to be constantly expanding your tool belt as a marketer.Working at large companies that touch many different industries present opportunities for growth in your career.First, it’s important to have the right people, then you can define the right processes. After this you can think about how to better leverage technology to support these people and processes.Marketing is part art and part science but revenue marketing focuses on the science portion and looks at marketing in a more value based way, questioning how you are driving value for the business.Learn more about Trimble here: https://www.trimble.com/Learn more about Melissa here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissahanson1/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Meagen Eisenberg, CMO at TripActions. Meagen is a sought after marketing leader who any company would be lucky to have, and interestingly she chose to become CMO at a company centred in the travel industry. Meagen and Randy discuss how Meagen finds time to balance her wide range of advisory roles with her day job and home life, steps her team has taken to find success throughout the pandemic, and the role of the marketing team when developing new products.Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play! Key takeaways from this episode:Business advising, or any new challenge can seem daunting but Meagen is able to advise more efficiently after doing it for so long. Companies at various stages in their growth cycle face similar problems and pattern recognition allows her to build models and give faster advice.To choose her roles, Meagen assesses five things: the addressable market, the investors, the team, the ability to execute, and whether she can add value.Marketing and product might seem like very different things but one important thing they have in common is that they’re key for connecting with your customers.Learn more about TripActions here: https://tripactions.com/Learn more about Meagen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meageneisenberg/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Lynne Capozzi, CMO of Acquia. Lynne did what she calls a “boomerang” by leaving her job at Acquia to pursue other passions and opportunities and ending up eventually returning as their CMO years later. According to Lynne, the company was at such a different stage in the growth cycle that it was like starting fresh, and she viewed it as such. She treated it as though she was brand new and erased what she knew from her past life at Acquia. Sometimes, in cases such as Lynne’s, the opportunity to come back is far from a step back, it’s an opportunity to bring your new skills and knowledge to a workplace you know and love. On today’s episode we discuss Lynne’s role as a CMO across different company growth cycles and the importance of both product marketing and customer marketing in our changing economic climate.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!     Key takeaways from this episode:  As marketers we need to get rid of the jargon in our content. There is more content than ever before which makes it even more important to be genuine. If you’re not genuine, people will notice-- and they will leave.   Sales is the front line to the customer but product marketing and product management are right behind them so they should have a direct line to your customers as well.   There should be absolutely no shame in “boomeranging” back to a company. In many cases it can be seen and treated as a totally new opportunity, especially in cases like Lynne’s where she returned to a company at a completely different stage in their growth cycle.  Learn more about Acquia here: https://www.acquia.com/  Learn more about Lynne here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnecapozzi/  

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Prachi Gore. Marketing for a company with a strong mission that aligns with her values has always been very important to Prachi. But who is responsible for communicating a company’s mission? And how do you use your company mission to develop tangible messaging and brand voice? On today’s episode, Prachi and I discuss her career journey, in which she focused on driving outcomes for the business, even when it meant stepping outside of her lane. We also discuss the Checkr buyer journey and how to evolve your company mission and differentiators into simple messaging that resonates with your audience.   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 understand why your company exists before you can build out what you do and how you do it. This framework will allow both your company and your customers to buy into your mission.    It’s not always sufficient to stay high level with your messaging. If you have something to say, customers want you to go deeper and establish thought leadership.   Audiences don’t want to be sold to, they want to be educated. This is what’s most important for top of funnel stages of the buyer journey.   Learn more about Checkr here: https://checkr.com/ Learn more about Prachi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prachigore/ 

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Sydney Sloan, CMO of SalesLoft. After a long tenure at Adobe, Sydney worked hard to ensure her next role was a great fit and that she would be working with a product she was passionate about. In her current role, she leads marketing for a SaaS company that has taken off, not just because of what they do, but also because of their emphasis on one-to-one selling and marketing. On today’s episode we chat about the need for alignment between sales and marketing and the importance of proper customer onboarding for good retention and customer experience.  Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  The buyer journey is “the most important and most forgotten”-- once customers buy in, they’re often disregarded. In reality, the customer onboarding process is very important and creating a good customer experience right off the bat will ensure greater retention.    Often the people you sell to are not the people that own the application in the long term. Be aware of who will be using your product regularly and align your communication strategies with them.   Marketing is in a unique position to lead the customer experience across the board-- and a great customer experience turns your customers into advocates.   Learn more about SalesLoft here: https://salesloft.com/  Learn more about Sydney here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydsloan/  

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Michelle Huff, CMO at UserTesting. UserTesting has seen amazing growth, moving from 50 million to 100 million in revenue over the course of Michelle’s time there and as the CMO Michelle has kept laser focused on this growth but been mindful of building a cohesive team that feels embraced by her as a leader. UserTesting has created a double-sided marketplace that is redefining the market research industry. What Michelle has learned marketing for this rapidly growing company in this developing industry is that listening to your buyers is king. Many marketers champion the importance of their buyers without ever speaking directly to them; outsourcing market research and feedback collection. CMOs need to make sure their entire organization is committed to listening to their customers no matter what.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:   Working within an existing category comes with budget because the need has been proven.  With new categories, you’re constantly justifying why you and why now. You’re convincing people to do things in a different way and this always comes with challenges.  One of the most interesting things about the COVID-19 pandemic is that literally every industry has been impacted. Consumer buying behaviour in every industry has changed and companies are thriving based on their adaptability.  Who you are working for is important. Culture is important. Consider these factors as much as you consider the role and the company itself.  Learn more about UserTesting here: https://www.usertesting.com/. Learn more about Michelle here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellehuff/. 

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Karen Peterson, CMO of Lendio. As the largest marketplace for small business loans in the USA, Lendio experienced rapid growth and acceleration due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Karen describes taking on this new role and being at Lendio for these changes as the most exhilarating, challenging and rewarding time. Throughout her career she has always been open to opportunities and employed a willingness to be agile and adaptable. This attitude has led to her doing things like accepting an interim CMO role, moving to a new city to pursue new opportunities, and more. Today we discuss how to build the right modern day marketing team for your business and the key pillars that will be relevant to your specific strategy.    Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  Wherever you sit you should have a certain hierarchy: customer is number one, then the company, then your team, then an individual. If you keep this in mind, you really can’t go wrong.   We often think as marketing leaders that our team is made up of the marketers that report into us. We need to also realize that there is “the rest of our team”. This could be the executive team, the board of directors, or other team members at the company. It’s important to give appropriate time to our wider team as well.   As a CMO, it’s important to come into a new role with framework, pillars and ideas but then you need to apply and customize these ideas to the specific company.  Learn more about Lendio here: https://www.lendio.com/  Learn more about Karen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-peterson-marketing/  

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Kristin Treat, VP of Corporate Marketing at Nintex. Kristin took an unusual path to becoming a senior marketing leader. She comes to the table with a PR background having worked over 25 years in PR, and though it’s an unconventional path, the foundations Kristin takes from her background are critically valuable to her as a marketing leader. Messaging and the way we communicate are key pillars of public relations that Kristin focuses on and that have helped her and Nintex find success, especially during the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic.Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!Key TakeawaysSuccess does not have to be complicated: focus on the basics, collaborate and do good work.Have a learning mindset: don’t be an executive who just delegates and attends meetings. Employ a collaborative, learning approach to the day to day in order to never lose touch with the work.Real world examples are so valuable in marketing and just to companies in general. It’s one thing to say “our product can solve your problem” but you need to be able to prove it.It’s often argued that it’s hard to measure ROI with PR (which is true) but PR is really invaluable. PR creates opportunities to advance your brand, your product, your reputation and your messaging.Learn more about Kristin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ktreat73/Learn more about here: https://www.nintex.com/

On this episode of The Marketer’s Journey, I interview Chuck Johnston, CMO at FINEOS. Chuck interestingly did not originally know that he was going to be a marketer. He moved into marketing by being an insurance industry expert, and on today’s episode we discuss the different pathways to becoming a marketer--by being an expert that learns marketing or a marketer that learns industry-- and when it makes sense to hire people that fit these profiles. We also discuss in depth the rise of ABM marketing, something FINEOS uses as a cornerstone of their marketing strategy as a way to ensure they are maintaining client relationships and delivering personalized content strategies.   Check out this and other episodes of The Marketer’s Journey on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play!   Key takeaways from this episode:  There is more than one entry point into the world of marketing. Many people enter this world by being industry experts wanting to explore new realms of business. Sometimes these people can be even more valuable than seasoned marketers.  Content by itself isn’t enough; it’s about understanding the journey your customers are on and meeting them there. The right content to the right buyer at the right time is a core pillar of any ABM strategy.  Good ABM is about relationships and personalization: knowing your customers, understanding them and maintaining a personal touch.Learn more about  FINEOS here: https://www.fineos.com/Learn more about Chuck here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuck-johnston-66136/