How I Made it in Marketing

I am not a numbers guy. And I’ve been in my fair share of meetings with decks filled with endless charts and data and my eyes glazed over. I’m sure you have as well.So were we the problem? Were we just not captivated enough by the correlation coefficient?I think not. And I think the reason why can be best summed up by this lesson I read in a How I Made It In Marketing podcast guest application – Even the most rigorous analysis fails without the right story.Numbers, even very impressive numbers, still need that marketer’s touch.To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I sat down with a numbers guy who also has some deep marketing and business insights to share with us –  Jiaxi Zhu, head of analytics, SMB division, Google [https://www.google.com/].Google’s SMB division works with five million customers. Zhu leads the analysis for how to manage and prioritize the division’s several-hundred-million-dollar budget.Lessons from the things he madeEven the most rigorous analysis fails without the right storyLanding solutions requires going deep and doing the hard workDefine your data with your business partnersReal influence means accepting the world is not fair or rational by defaultTrue empathy is active workIntellectual curiosity means always asking “why” behind the observationsTurn your knowledge assets into a new revenue streamMarketingSherpa has teamed up with parent company MeclabsAI to produce a research study. We are granting 10 AI engineering vouchers worth $7,500 each to eligible companies. Apply for your $7,500 AI Engineering Voucher [https://meclabs.com/research/ai-engineering-voucher]Discussed in this episodeTransparent Marketing: How to make your product claims credible … not incredible [https://marketingexperiments.com/value-proposition/transparent-credible-product-claims]Customer-First Marketing: How The Global Leadership Summit grew attendance by 16% to 400,000 [https://meclabs.com/gls]B2B Marketing Leadership: The higher you get in the organization, the more details you need to know (podcast episode #115) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/B2B-marketing-leadership]Marketing and Brand: Embrace healthy friction (podcast episode #48) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-and-brand]Get more episodesSubscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.For more insights, check out...This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.Apply to be a guestIf you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

Itai Sadan, CEO and co-founder of Duda, shares insights from his journey building a leading website platform for agencies and small businesses. He emphasizes the importance of defining a focused total addressable market—serving everyone ultimately serves no one. Itai discusses his innovative solutions within large corporations, the evolution of Duda’s product, and the speed of decision-making that can make or break deals. He also highlights the need for deep customer understanding and strategic delegation as keys to effective marketing.

Data, data everywhere, but not a drop of insight.Excuse my remixing of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, but doesn’t it feel that way when staring at a dashboard sometimes.We have so much data – and frankly, our competitors probably have a lot of the same data – but can we turn those numbers into real insights to better serve a customer?Here’s one way to do it, that I read in a recent podcast guest application, but you have to close your laptop first – “Walk the market.”To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Katherine Melchior Ray, faculty member and lecturer at the University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business [https://haas.berkeley.edu/], and author of the book ‘Brand Global, Adapt Local: How to build brand value across cultures’ [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/brand-global-adapt-local-katherine-melchior-ray/1146174119].Berkeley Haas ranked No. 8 among U.S. business schools in the 2025 Financial Times Global MBA Ranking.During her career, Ray managed teams up to 150 and reported to CEOs in Germany, France, Japan, and the US.Lessons from the things she madeNurture your curiosityHistory is not just for schoolPrioritize relationshipsWalk the marketInfuse a founder’s values into the brandCombine audacious risk taking with careOur next eventJoin us for ‘AI Executive Lab: Transform billable hours into scalable AI-powered products’ on September 10th at 2 pm EDT. Register here [https://join.meclabsai.com/mec050].Discussed in this episodeCustomer Experience: Great experiences are invisible, but they require relentless alignment (podcast episode #145) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/customer]An Effective Value Proposition: What it is, why it is so important to business and marketing success, and how to use it [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/how-to/value-proposition-business-marketing%20success]Get more episodesSubscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.For more insights, check out...This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/free digital marketing course.Apply to be a guestIf you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

I love Delta Air Lines. It’s my favorite airline. Please understand that.Now, that said, when I was a kid, their tagline was ‘We love to fly and it shows.’I would see the tagline on TV ads. I would see it on giant posters in the airport.And then I would get on the plane. And even as a kid I could tell…the people working on the airplane, are not the ones that wrote the jingle.So I love this lesson from a podcast guest application – Your brand is only as strong as your frontline experience.To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I sat down with Melissa Archer-Wirtz, CEO, Century 21 Circle [https://c21circle.com/].Lessons from the things she madeYour brand is only as strong as your frontline experienceChange management isn’t about being right – it’s about being clearPeople don’t fear change – they fear confusionCulture is built through relationships, not policiesYour integrity is your most valuable assetYou don’t have to be the loudest voice in the room to be the most effective leaderDiscussed in this episodeAdvertising and Brands: Details matter, know when to quit, …be nice (podcast episode #27) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/advertising-and-brands]Marketing: It’s not about you, and when you make it about you, you are never going to succeed (podcast episode #53) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-not-about-you]Cybersecurity Marketing: You don’t need to scare people to sell them security (podcast episode #136) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/cybersecurity]500 Mangled, Stretchy Rubber Guys: Make sure you have the right marketing partner for your super creative plan – Podcast Episode #3 [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/direct-mail-podcast]Adaptive Leadership: It’s never too late to reinvent yourself (podcast episode #90) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/adaptive]Transform your intellectual property into a revenue engine…in just daysHow I Made It In Marketing is brought to you by MeclabsAI, MarketingSherpa's parent company.In just 21 days, you can pilot your first AI-powered product with MeclabsAI [https://meclabsai.com/]Subscribe for more tactics that turn content into closed businessSubscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.For more insights, check out...This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.Apply to be a guestIf you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

I know the pinch when budgets tighten, customers shift, and deadlines close in. Yet, marketers have a superpower: like Superman’s X-ray vision, we see through constraints to the core idea.That is the essence of our craft – not waiting for perfect conditions but delivering breakthrough concepts right here, right now.So I loved this lesson in a recent podcast guest application – ‘every challenge is a creative opportunity.’To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Dana Bodine, US VP of marketing, Trustpilot [https://www.trustpilot.com/].Trustpilot is a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange. In 2024, it reported $211 million in revenue.Bodine looks after the entire US market, the US portion of an international audience of 64 million monthly active users.Lessons from the things she madeEvery challenge is a creative opportunityBuilding a relationship with commercial partners is key Stay calm under fire (+ on tight deadlines) Get a seat at the table by creating sales materialsTo truly be customer-obsessed, respect the customer’s timeIdeas are only powerful when they come with contextDiscussed in this episodeStrategic Advertising and Marketing: It’s not what you make, it’s what you make possible (podcast episode #117) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/strategic-advertising]Team Building: Loyalty, relationships, pre-selling, and other keys to marketing management success (Podcast Episode #16) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/team-building]Marketing & Communications: It’s important to ‘take a beat’ (podcast episode #140) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-and-communications]Five Tips From a Personal Care Industry CEO for Setting (and Getting Approval for) Your Marketing Budget [https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/marketing/tips-marketing-budget-approval/]Marketing: It’s not about you, and when you make it about you, you are never going to succeed (podcast episode #53) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-not-about-you]The Radical Idea: Customer-first marketing prioritizes customer experience over upsells [https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/consumer-marketing/the-radical-idea-customer-experience-over-upsells/]AI engineering voucherMarketingSherpa has teamed up with parent company MeclabsAI to produce a research study. We are granting 10 AI engineering vouchers worth $5,000 each to eligible companies. Learn more at https://meclabs.com/research/5k-engineering-voucherNext eventJoin us for AI Hackathon: Build a powerful lead gen agent in just 90 minutes [https://join.meclabsai.com/mec050] on Wednesday, August 20th at 2 pm EDT.Apply to be a guestIf you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

Let’s step into these shoes for a minute. You’re the sole marketer at a B2B startup. You’ve been hustling, pitching investors, and finally you close your Series A. Suddenly, you have the budget to make real progress. What do you do next?Here’s the lesson that stood out to me in a recent guest application: “There is no real progress in marketing, especially in B2B and post-Series A, without product marketing.”I love that lesson and I think of product marketing as the translator between what engineers build and what customers truly need.To hear the story behind that lesson – and many more insights born from wrestling with real revenue goals – I spoke with Asaf Raz, VP of Marketing at Agora [https://agorareal.com/]. Agora secured $34 million in Series B funding last year and has raised a total of $63 million in funds so far.Raz manages a team of 12 demand gen, product marketing, creative, and field marketing professionals.Lessons learnedMarketing can’t be successful without being connected to sales goalsOne of the most important things about being a marketing executive is to know your market really well, knowing the actual people.There is no real progress in marketing, especially in B2B and post-Series A, without product marketingThere’s nothing helpful that comes from complaining about things and blaming other people for your problems Take full ownershipFrame for persuasionDiscussed in this episodeMarketingSherpa has teamed up with parent company MeclabsAI to produce a research study. We are granting 10 AI engineering vouchers worth $5,000 each to eligible companies. Learn more at https://meclabs.com/research/5k-engineering-voucherProduct Quality: Marketing's job is to help the product win (podcast episode #97) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/product-quality]Marketing Career: How to become an indispensable asset to your company (even in a bad economy) [https://marketingexperiments.com/value-proposition/marketing-career]Customer-First Marketing: The customer is always right … but not always right for your company [https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/b2c-marketing-2/customer-is-always-right-but-not-always/]Clarity Trumps Persuasion: How ordinary marketers are learning to write high-impact copy [https://www.meclabs.com/training/misc/optsummit/slides/10-Flint-McGlaughlin-MECLABS-Copywriting-FINAL.pdf]Turn content into pipeline – In this episode, Raz discusses how he uses a podcast to better understand prospects and get more deals. Build your own playbook to get more leads with your content using a multi-agent protocol workflow. Launch the workflow [https://win.meclabsai.com/build-lead-gen] (from MeclabsAI, MarketingSherpa’s parent company).Subscribe for more tactics that turn content into closed businessSubscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights.Apply to be a guestIf you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

I love the movie City Slickers.If you’re unfamiliar, Billy Crystal is a Manhattanite, has a midlife crisis, and goes out West on a cattle drive to try to figure life out.Spoiler alert, the crusty old cowboy teaches him that the secret to life is – ‘One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean shhh…” Well, you get the idea.It struck me that this is a great brand lesson as well. You’ve seen the stats – our ideal customer simply gets hammered with messages every day. And there are so many things your internal team could work on. How to break through the noise? How to prioritize? I love what my next guest told me – “If you don’t have one clear position of who you are and why they should care, you’re just throwing spaghetti at a wall.”To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I sat down with Margaret Dawson, CMO, Chronosphere [https://chronosphere.io/].Chronosphere has raised $343 million in three rounds. In its Series C round in 2023, the company was valued at $1.6 billion.Dawson leads global marketing efforts at Chronosphere, overseeing a budget of $12 million and a team of 23 working on digital experience, corporate communications, demand generation, customer marketing, ABM, Marketing Ops, and Product Marketing.Lessons from the things she madeIf you don’t have one clear position of who you are and why they should care, you’re just throwing spaghetti at a wallSometimes you need to poke the snakeIntegrated marketing moves the needleMentoring is a two-way streetJust because you can do something doesn’t mean you shouldDon’t focus so much on winning each battle that you lose the warIf you channeled the characteristics that made you so competent and made you authentically you, you would have the greatest powerWe do not serve ourselves or the world by hiding our light or being afraid to stand tallDiscussed in this episodeJoin us on July 30th at 2 pm EDT for AI Hackathon: Build a powerful lead gen agent in just 90 minutes [https://join.meclabsai.com/mec-050-masterclass] (from MeclabsAI, MarketingSherpa’s parent company).Outside-In Messaging: Nothing counts more than the language of the customer (podcast episode #75) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/outside-in-messaging]The 4 Pillars of Email Marketing [https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/email-marketing/4-pillars-email-summit-2014/]Building Brands: People and culture matter a lot, mentorship matters even more, product matters the most (podcast episode #119) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/brands]Marketing Campaigns: Lose the brand ego and lean into humility (podcast episode #130) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-campaigns]Get more episodesSubscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.For more insights, check out...TApply to be a guestIf you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

Instead of burning budgets on Facebook ads, Talya Elitzer, CEO, Overmind Merchandise [https://www.overmind.co/], grows global merch sales with just seven employees by building worlds, not products.In this episode, she reveals the underground community-building strategies that transformed grassroots buzz into international demand. Hear her playbook using this embedded player or by clicking through to your preferred audio streaming service using the links below it.Lessons from the things she madeCulture moves in different waysBuild a world, not just a productScale is a strategy, not a starting pointConfidence clears confusionVulnerability builds loyaltyLet instincts override the briefDiscussed in this episodeConnect your product to your customer’s story – People don't just buy products; they buy into narratives. A powerful value proposition taps into this emotional connection. Quickly discover if your value prop resonates deeply enough using this MeclabsAI workflow – Is your value prop (really) strong enough? [https://win.meclabsai.com/value-prop] (from MeclabsAI, MarketingSherpa’s parent company).Marketing Strategy: Data tells stories at Nationwide, fast mistakes, and the triage method (podcast episode #25) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-strategy]Authentic Brand Transformation: To build a brand that lasts, consider rebranding a team sport (podcast episode #137) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/authentic-brand]Get more episodesSubscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.For more insights, check out...This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.Apply to be a guestIf you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”That is a famous quote from Anton Chekhov, and it has informed everything I personally do in writing and marketing. And it’s why I was so excited to read a podcast guest application that referenced the famous writer’s maxim I’ve lived my career by – show, don’t tell.To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I sat down with Dave Anderson, Vice President of Product Marketing, Contentsquare [https://contentsquare.com/].Contentsquare has secured $1.4 billion in funding, including most recently a $600 million Series F, at which point it was valued at $5.6 billion. Anderson manages a global distributed team of 10 across France, UK, Spain and the US, and currently manages 10 AI tools as well.Lessons from the things he madeGreat experiences are invisible, but they require relentless alignmentTelling stories with data creates internal momentumExperimentation wins, but only if it’s culturalDon’t make assumptions. Listen to customers.Show, don’t tellInnovation isn’t about waiting for a perfect idea, its about moving fast, failing smart, and building a culture that learns at speed.Discussed in this episodeIs your value prop strong enough? [https://win.meclabsai.com/value-prop] (MeclabsAI workflow, from MarketingSherpa's parent company)Corporate Marketing: Feedback is respect (podcast episode #44) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/corporate-marketing]Creating a Culture of Testing: How to defeat the tyranny of best practices [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/corporate-marketing]Show, Don’t Tell: 3 quick case studies where companies help customers reach their own conclusions [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/show-don-t-tell-3-quick-case-studies-where-companies-help-customers-reach-their-own-conclusions]Get more episodesSubscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.For more insights, check out...This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.Apply to be a guestIf you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

Yes, the Super Bowl ad. How exciting. The experiential activation with the major influencer. The new branding campaign roll out. So wonderful.But don’t stop there.You could have the most compelling and creative ad campaign, but if you don’t optimize for every customer touch point, you are undercutting the expectation you have built for the customer with the reality your brand is actually delivering.So I love this lesson from a recent podcast guest application – “Marketing is the chief customer advocate.”To hear that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Scott Neuman, Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Calix [https://www.calix.com/].Calix is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2024, it reported $831 million in net sales.Neuman leads the corporate marketing strategy team at Calix, including branding, communications, content development, digital and event strategy, and field enablement. Collectively the Calix marketing team is approximately 100 professionals with a primary focus on the North American markets of broadband service providers.Lessons from the things he madeMarketing is the chief customer advocateAlways think B2B2CActivate your social armyGreat marketers are great storytellersThere’s more science than art to great storytellingEffective leaders challenge rather than direct“Every day, let ’s try to suck less”Discussed in this episodeJoin us Tuesday, July 8th at 2 pm EDT for AI Masterclass: Build a powerful lead gen campaign in just 90 minutes [https://join.meclabsai.com/mec-050-july-8]The Difference Between Marketing and Advertising (and Why It Matters) [https://marketingexperiments.com/digital-advertising/the-difference-between-marketing-and-advertising-and-why-it-matters]Marketing Chart: Biggest challenges to growing membership [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/challenges-to-growing-membership]B2B External Communications: How IBM conveys the value of complex products, spotlights innovative employees and entrusts employees with social media [https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/b2b-marketing/ibm-b2b-external-communications/]Get more episodesSubscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.For more insights, check out...This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.Apply to be a guestIf you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application