Focus on small-scope audiences. Find prospects that look exactly like your best customers. Create buyer personas — detailed profiles of your ideal customers — and tailor your messaging and campaigns to appeal to them.

With the growing complexity of marketing channels and the need for businesses to constantly adapt their strategies, managing marketing budgets effectively has become more critical than ever to ensure the highest possible return on investment. In this interview series, we are talking with marketing experts, industry professionals, and thought leaders who have significant experience in budget management and optimization, to share their “5 Ways To Manage Your Marketing Budget For Improved ROI.” As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Amanda Cole.

Amanda serves as Chief Marketing Officer, leading the execution of the Company’s marketing strategy to drive further business demand and brand awareness. Amanda is a passionate marketing professional with more than 15 years of experience in helping SaaS companies build impactful brands, communicate differentiated value, and grow high-performing marketing teams. She previously served as the Company’s senior vice president of global marketing, having joined in January 2021 through the acquisition of Exponea. Prior to joining Exponea, Amanda served as Vice President, Demand Generation at Blueshift, a Customer Data Platform, and before that served as Vice President of Marketing, Americas and Global Programs at Basware, a financial software company.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?

I’d define my journey in this industry as a “series of fortunate events.” I’ve taken advantage of incredible opportunities to work with outstanding mentors and put in a lot of hard work and dedication. My experiences — from launching products for start-ups to optimizing sales funnels for high-growth tech companies — have led me to my current position as CMO at Bloomreach, where I’m privileged to lead an incredible marketing team.

Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?

Grit keeps me going even when things get tough, combining determination, passion and resilience to overcome setbacks and achieve my goals. I’ve always been very determined and don’t give up easily, and my willingness to put in the hard work has helped me succeed.

Curiosity drives me to seek new experiences and challenges. I’m inquisitive about the world around me and always looking for new things to know and challenges to tackle. This characteristic motivates me to grow and indulges my need for creativity and innovation.

Resilience helps me bounce back from the many challenges I’ve faced. Failure is a part of the learning process, and I’m not afraid to take risks because I understand that my setbacks bring me closer to achieving my goals.

Anyone has the power to cultivate these qualities within themselves. It starts with setting challenging goals for yourself and not giving up on them. Be persistent, and don’t let setbacks discourage you — but learn from them when they happen. Nothing will help you through these new experiences more than surrounding yourself with a strong support system made up of positive people.

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to the main part of our interview. What factors do you consider when allocating your marketing budget across different channels and tactics?

When allocating my marketing budget, I start by thinking about what the end result should be. In whatever we’re creating, what values do we want to represent? What emotions do we want to evoke to make the greatest impact? Once I have a clear idea of the story, I think about the channels and tactics that’ll best tell it.

Marketing is about creating a story that people want to be a part of, finding the common thread that connects our brand with our target audience and weaving it through everything we do. We want to invest our time, money and effort into crafting and sharing that right story in the right way. Ultimately, marketing goes beyond selling products or services, aiming to connect with people emotionally and build lasting relationships. When we do that, we create a brand people love and trust.

In your opinion, what are some common mistakes that marketers make when managing their budgets? How can they be avoided?

I’ve observed some common budget management mistakes among marketers. Waiting for a budget figure from the finance team is one of them. Marketers should be actively involved in the budgeting process to ensure its alignment with their goals and objectives. This approach enables strategic allocation of resources, supporting broader aims like revenue growth and lead generation.

If your spending plan isn’t tied to revenue objectives, it’ll likely prioritize cost-cutting overgrowth. Striking the right balance between growth and efficient spending will improve overall results and align better with your marketing goals.

When allocating your budget, how do you balance short-term marketing goals with long-term brand-building initiatives?

Short-term goals are the proof points that earn you the credibility to make long-term investments. It’s difficult for marketers to achieve credibility long-term by simply saying, “Trust me, this will work eventually.” Instead, you need to show your audience that you can deliver results. Set clear and measurable goals and track your progress to see what’s working and what’s not.

Long-term initiatives are investments you make in your brand and business. They may not yield immediate results but are essential for long-term success. For example, you might invest in content marketing to build your audience — knowing it won’t generate sales overnight — because it’ll help you build a strong foundation for future growth.

The key (and sometimes the challenge)? Finding a balance between showing quick wins and demonstrating your long-term strategy’s strength for lasting success. Successfully attaining short-term objectives paves the way for acceptance and trust in your overarching strategy, while long-term goals will lay the foundation for sustainable growth. This trust will fund your brand’s journey toward lasting impact.

For start-ups and those with limited budgets, what tactics would you recommend to receive the highest return and the fastest initial growth?

For startups and those with limited budgets, I recommend building a strong community of supporters early, beginning with an extremely focused and small list of potential people most likely to be interested in your product or service. Engage these select customers through tactics like events and meetups, through valuable content, social media, even contests and giveaways. Build relationships and invite them to become brand ambassadors, where they share your product or service with their friends and family.

Then, gradually expand your reach through their networks and connections, moving outward to acquire more customers within similar circles. A community of loyal consumers passionate about your brand is more likely to support you and help your business grow. Starting with a strong community foundation early on can be a powerful driver of initial growth and high returns, so do what you can to build up your network of supporters.

I’d also say leverage AI to help scale your efforts quickly and drive fast results. AI is used broadly throughout our organization because it helps us all to supercharge our efforts with efficiency and scale. The same is true for our customers using AI to drive growth for their e-commerce businesses, and the same can be true for really any business of any size in any industry. It’s a powerful, widely accessible tool — use it to your advantage.

How do you collaborate with other departments within your organization, such as sales or finance, to ensure alignment and maximize ROI from your marketing spend?

-use cases and products that we’re actually selling

Collaboration is key to a cohesive marketing strategy. My team and I work closely with sales to tightly align on target markets. We thoroughly research the specific companies we’re pursuing to ensure our marketing efforts resonate with the use cases and products we sell.

We also work closely with finance to analyze historical conversion methods and cost of opportunity. Then, we tie those baseline metrics to efficiency gains and revenue targets to build our marketing budget and resource planning. Doing so helps us understand where to make efficiency gains and maximize our return on investment (ROI).

Collaborating with other departments helps create a marketing strategy aligned with overall business goals, achieve marketing objectives and grow the business seamlessly.

What tips do you have to get buy-in from the CEO and others in the C-Suite when requesting additional budget for new projects or tactics?

Know your data inside out and clearly define the key performance indicators (KPIs) that resonate with C-Suite leaders. Set realistic goals and expectations for delivering on those KPIs — delivering on them at least 70% of the time — and track their progress regularly.

Which marketing software in your tech stack do you feel is most worth the investment?

Marketing automation platforms are the backbone of your entire organization, acting as the glue that holds everything together. It makes automating your marketing campaigns possible. But it’s less about a singular investment and more about how well you integrate and coordinate the various technologies that you have. It’s something we see both in our own organization and with our customers.

When you connect the data from your marketing channels, you can create a single view of the customer journey to see how your customers interact with your brand at every stage of the funnel. This information can help you create more personalized and relevant marketing experiences.

A well-integrated marketing tech stack can help you:

Automate your marketing campaigns, freeing up your time to focus on tasks like creating high-quality content and building customer relationships.

Reach your target audience more effectively by understanding their needs and creating marketing campaigns that resonate with them.

Track your results and measure your ROI to optimize your marketing campaigns and get the most out of your investment.

Here is our main question: Can you please share five things marketing leaders should do to improve the ROI of their marketing efforts?

A few things marketing leaders can do to improve their marketing ROI include:

Focus on small-scope audiences. Find prospects that look exactly like your best customers. Create buyer personas — detailed profiles of your ideal customers — and tailor your messaging and campaigns to appeal to them.

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Secure alignment across all your teams, including your product development, sales and marketing. Everyone needs to understand their role in the marketing process and how their work affects others, from the product development roadmap to the target market to the sales pitch.

Experiment and test new channels. Embrace experimentation with new media and campaigns, especially in this evolving landscape. You don’t necessarily have to spend much money either; start small by testing different social media platforms or running paid ads on a limited budget. The key is to be willing to try new things and see what works best for your business.

Understand your target audience. Who are you trying to reach with your marketing? What are their needs and wants? Once you understand your target audience, you can tailor your marketing messages and materials to resonate with them.

Set clear goals and objectives. Define your objectives, whether it’s boosting brand awareness, generating leads or driving sales. Working with a centralized marketing platform can help by generating real-time analytics and insights, aiding in strategy optimization, resource allocation and campaign alignment with your goals.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be?

I would create a broader set of career opportunities for high school graduates who may lack the opportunities, funds or resources to attend college. Everyone deserves the chance to reach their full potential, regardless of their background or circumstances. And I believe that a good education is part of achieving personal success.

However, I also know college is not the only path to success. There are many other ways to learn and grow, and many jobs don’t require a college degree. So, I’d also like to inspire a movement to help high school graduates explore all their options and find the right career — whether through apprenticeships, internships or some other form of hands-on work experience — to develop modern skills and positively contribute to their communities.

How can our readers best continue to follow your work online?

Follow me on LinkedIn and stay tuned into all Bloomreach social channels!

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About The Interviewer: Stephanie Hood is the Editor of The CMO and holds vast marketing experience in industries spanning media, publishing, tech, fashion and travel/tourism. Throughout her career, she has led editorial and marketing teams and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, consistently turning six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. With a passion for storytelling, Stephanie enjoys connecting with the world’s top executives to share their secrets to business success. Curious what she’s uncovered? Read more at TheCMO.

Amanda Cole of Bloomreach: 5 Ways To Manage Your Marketing Budget For Improved ROI was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Error Reduction: Our automation tools are instrumental in reducing errors across various aspects, including spelling, calendaring, meeting scheduling, and the quality of graphics, text, and code outputs. By automating these processes, we ensure a higher degree of precision and consistency in our work, ultimately enhancing the quality of our deliverables.

In the current era of rapid technological advancements, marketing automation has become a fundamental asset to any business. It has the potential to not only streamline operations, but also to significantly boost team efficiencies. As we explore its various applications, we would like to highlight how it can transform day-to-day tasks, foster innovation, and ultimately enhance performance. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Humphrey Ho, Managing Partner at Hylink Group Americas.

Humphrey, a recipient of Forbes’ “Top 30 under 30” award in 2009, has since lectured at global business schools. He’s now focused on creating a global advertising agency with expertise in the APAC and American markets. With extensive experience in various sectors, including automotive, agriculture, technology, and travel, Humphrey’s leadership at Hylink Group has consistently garnered awards for the agency.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?

I’ve served as the managing partner of Hylink Group for the last eight years. Hylink Group is the largest independent advertising agency in the Asia-Pacific region. My journey began in Los Angeles, where I came to establish a scalable bridge for marketing communications between Asia and the Americas.

Hylink Group is an international organization with offices in key global cities such as Paris, Munich, Milan, Bogota, and Los Angeles. My focus has always been on pushing brands beyond their limits, particularly in terms of global scalability and strategy. My professional background includes significant experience at Google, Wieden+Kennedy (W+K), and in management consulting, which has equipped me with the tools to succeed in this space.

My main goal is to explore how marketing communications can transform a business across various dimensions, including creative media, branding, technology, and communications. Over the past eight years, I’ve been dedicated to building an integrated function within Hylink Group to address this fundamental question. Our success in this endeavor has led to Hylink Group becoming a $2 billion organization.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Success is often a collaborative effort, and there’s one person I’m particularly grateful for in my journey. I had the privilege of learning and working under the guidance of advertising legends with over 50 years of experience in the industry, which left me with a treasure trove of wisdom and professional guidance that were possible through late nights of preparing pitches and debating ideas. During these moments, I truly appreciated the mentorship and guidance I received. These people shared their wisdom and instilled in me a sense of dedication and perseverance.

In our industry, success is undoubtedly a team effort, and I’m grateful for those I’ve had the opportunity to work with. I am fortunate to have learned from others and continue working alongside talented professionals who make our industry continue to thrive.

Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?

One crucial trait that has been instrumental in my journey is perseverance. It’s about consistently pushing forward, even with the natural inclination to seek comfort. Perseverance means doing the opposite of what your body and mind often urge you to do, whether enduring long hours or navigating through setbacks and challenges. This dedication isn’t merely hard work; it’s a commitment to practice and accepting both failure and success as transient outcomes. Looking back, it’s clear that this perseverance has led to the creation of unique solutions and driven transformative value for my clients.

Perseverance is like refining a golf swing; it’s not just about hitting the ball but carrying it to new horizons. Embracing perseverance means constantly striving for improvement and doing what’s best, as good enough today may not be sufficient for the future — a valuable characteristic to cultivate in one’s professional journey.

Which skills are you still trying to grow now?

The skills I am currently focusing on growing revolve around deepening my ability to adapt and connect with individuals locally. Throughout my professional journey, which has taken me from living in Shanghai to growing up in Hong Kong and working in the United States, I’ve come to appreciate the immense significance of comprehending local cultures and behaviors. Effective communication transcends mere language proficiency in my current role, where I collaborate with professionals from diverse regions like Singapore and overseas offices in locations as varied as Colombia and Europe. It necessitates a profound understanding of how people think and behave.

For instance, fluency in English alone is often insufficient. To thrive in different regions, it’s essential to be open to acquiring new languages, such as Spanish or understanding local dialects like Shanghainese. Additionally, the concept of universal human truths holds great importance in my approach. Whether I’m tackling complex business challenges for clients, devising creative or digital solutions, or working on projects outside my geographical comfort zone, recognizing and leveraging the shared motivators that drive people — whether it’s a desire for convenience or connection — is fundamental. This insight not only fuels the success of our campaigns but also fosters professional growth for myself and my team.

Over the past seven years, my career has undergone a remarkable transformation. I’ve shifted from client-focused work in the United States to leading an independent company with a global footprint — a rarity in the marketing and communications industry. This evolution has entailed the implementation of efficient processes and strategic management practices to navigate a range of crises, including those stemming from the pandemic and economic downturns. A significant aspect of this journey has involved gaining a deeper understanding of our team’s unique motivations, tailoring opportunities to

their individual aspirations, and ultimately aligning these with the overarching goals of our organization.

Let’s talk about marketing automation. What impact has marketing automation had on streamlining and enhancing your team’s operations, KPIs, and overall efficiency?

Hylink has taken proactive steps to embrace marketing automation and leverage AI tools on a global scale. This strategic move has facilitated the seamless integration of AI and LLM technology into various roles within the company, resulting in exceptional performance improvements and enhanced team efficiency. Notably, this transformation has led to a substantial increase in productivity, ranging from 30% to 50%, across multiple roles, including developers, media buyers, graphic designers, and creative directors. This upward trend in productivity is expected to continue. While the impact of automation and AI adoption may vary across roles, functions such as copywriting, illustration, front-end development, quality assurance (QA), and storyboarding have all experienced significant transformations. These transformations are a direct result of proactive upskilling efforts, which empower creative and strategic professionals to harness technology for their optimal performance.

In practice, the adoption of marketing automation has yielded tangible benefits. For instance, graphic designers who once manually handled the creation of thousands of banner adaptations now primarily oversee the process, ensuring accuracy and quality. Copywriters, previously tasked with generating ideas and content in isolation, now benefit from AI-powered co-pilots that assist in brainstorming and ideation. Coders, particularly those less experienced in specific coding languages, have found support in co-pilots that help reduce errors, automate quality checks, and improve coding practices.

What makes automation particularly intriguing is its ability to elevate Hylink’s role as a strategic partner. With marketing automation, the company is positioned to offer valuable insights and strategic guidance to clients, moving beyond mere execution. This shift empowers Hylink to become a true thought partner, aligning with clients’ objectives and goals.

What’s your favorite marketing automation tool and way in which to use it?

As for my favorite marketing automation tool, I don’t have a specific preference. I appreciate any tool that incorporates recursive learning capabilities, as this feature enhances the adaptability and effectiveness of marketing automation efforts.

As far as the tools we use, when it comes to managing new leads and inbound leads, our preferred tool of choice is HubSpot. HubSpot streamlines our lead management process by automating tasks related to leads, contacts, interaction tracking, and even calendar scheduling. It also provides valuable features for setting reminders and follow-ups, ensuring we stay organized and responsive.

For efficient productivity tracking, we rely on two key tools: insightful.io and Timecamp. These tools automate timesheet management and time tracking, allowing us to monitor and optimize our team’s productivity effectively.

To maintain control over project costs and timelines, ClickUp plays a crucial role in our toolkit. ClickUp assists us in tracking project progress and expenses, ensuring that we stay within budget and meet project deadlines.

In the creative realm, we have a set of tools that inspire and support our teams. Bard and ChatGPT are invaluable resources for generating copy ideas and content inspiration. Meanwhile, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion serve as sources of inspiration for everyone, from graphic designers to client services, helping us create compelling PowerPoint presentations and engaging storytelling.

Ensuring a personalized customer experience is crucial in today’s marketing landscape. How do you balance automation while maintaining a human touch?

HubSpot serves as our central contact point and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. However, we maintain a deliberate approach by limiting automated touchpoints with prospects or clients to a maximum of one. This strategy ensures that our conversations retain a natural, human-like flow and remain easily distinguishable as genuine interactions.

Data plays a fundamental role in our marketing automation efforts. We rely on data-driven insights to continuously refine and optimize our automated campaigns. Our approach involves collaboration with both third-party and first-party data providers, and we incorporate identity solutions into all our media activities. In line with Hylink Media’s motto, “Media With Purpose,” our campaigns are founded on data-driven decision-making.

As AI and machine learning technologies gain prominence, we have actively integrated these advancements into our operations. Our staff members are required to use a minimum of two AI tools daily as part of their routine, which is essential for career advancement within Hylink. This commitment extends to utilizing tools such as Github Copilot, ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Photoshop AI, collectively forming a sort of co-pilot or “cyber skeleton suit.” This integration enhances not only task automation but also our ability to provide predictive insights, elevating the quality and impact of our work.

What strategies have you found most effective in integrating marketing automation with other departments, such as sales or customer service, to create a cohesive and efficient end-to-end customer experience?

ClickUp serves as a vital connector across all our departments, facilitating effective communication through email and chat. This enables some team members to actively utilize the platform, while others can simply monitor progress. The result is a unified source of truth that harmonizes execution, sales, and optimization efforts.

When it comes to implementing new marketing automation tools or processes within a pre-existing team, we follow a structured approach. We mandate annual tool reviews, ensuring that we continuously assess and enhance our technology stack. As part of our corporate culture, we pilot new tools with senior leadership first. If the tool proves effective and aligns with our requirements, we decide to scale up its usage. We embrace change as an integral part of our operations, and our teams view annual upgrades as an expected and welcomed practice. This proactive approach allows us to stay at the forefront of technology and ensures that our tools align with our evolving needs. With the exception of Google Workspace, most of our technologies are regularly upgraded to keep pace with our demands and ambitions.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are 5 Ways to Use Marketing Automation to Improve Team Efficiencies? Please share a story or example for each.

Project Management: We rely on ClickUp as a pivotal tool in our project management solutions. It empowers our teams to maintain an organized record of communications, ensuring that we can easily trace “who said what” beyond the confines of email chains. Additionally, it simplifies the process of handing off responsibilities when team members are on vacation or out of the office.

Sales Automation: HubSpot CRM plays a central role in automating our sales lead generation efforts. This tool enables us to track inbound leads and manage conversations with prospective clients effectively. For new business prospects, our search campaigns lead to the generation of forms or whitepaper downloads, which subsequently transform into potential leads. With HubSpot CRM, we gain insights into critical metrics such as time to close deals and manage interactions with multiple stakeholders.

Productivity Tracking: Incorporating productivity tracking tools empowers high-performing team members to achieve an optimal work-life balance while maintaining control over their careers. Rather than being physically tied to an office, our globally distributed teams can have their time and productivity monitored, generating over 100 relevant metrics. This data not only supports HR initiatives but also transforms supervisors into productivity coaches rather than mere enforcers.

Delivery Enhancement: Coding tools such as Github and Jenkins play a pivotal role in automating code creation and suggesting optimal packages for implementation. This automation significantly boosts code delivery, often improving efficiency by up to 40%. This level of automation empowers developers, whether they are learning new languages or addressing unique challenges in their coding journey.

Error Reduction: Our automation tools are instrumental in reducing errors across various aspects, including spelling, calendaring, meeting scheduling, and the quality of graphics, text, and code outputs. By automating these processes, we ensure a higher degree of precision and consistency in our work, ultimately enhancing the quality of our deliverables.

Can you share a story about a challenge you faced with marketing automation, and how you overcame it?

Marketing automation becomes significantly challenging when the chosen automation vendor or provider lacks proper support. Fortunately, in our experience, we’ve consistently prioritized selecting partners who offer excellent account services and management. This approach ensures that we receive robust support throughout the implementation of any marketing automation tool. As a result, we don’t have any specific instances where we faced challenges due to inadequate support during the adoption of such tools. Our commitment to partnering with providers that emphasize robust account services has been a cornerstone of our successful automation initiatives.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Achieving daily continuous improvement is a fundamental aspect of my approach. While many leadership books emphasize practices such as self-reflection and high-performance management strategies, our focus is on avoiding potential bottlenecks in management and leadership. To accomplish this, we prioritize incremental enhancements in various facets of our work. Inspiring individuals to embrace continuous improvement in their lives and work is something I aim for.

Each day presents an opportunity to refine a specific aspect, whether it’s enhancing storytelling skills, streamlining communication with partners and clients to minimize emails, or establishing more efficient team processes to boost productivity and reduce errors.

Our daily continuous improvement routine begins with an early start, followed by a reflection on the previous day’s challenges or shortcomings. We take note of any areas that need refinement, treating them as opportunities for improvement rather than problems to be solved. This approach encourages us to proactively seek solutions and continually elevate our performance.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About The Interviewer: Stephanie Hood is the Editor of The CMO and holds vast marketing experience in industries spanning media, publishing, tech, fashion and travel/tourism. Throughout her career, she has led editorial and marketing teams and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, consistently turning six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. With a passion for storytelling, Stephanie enjoys connecting with the world’s top executives to share their secrets to business success. Curious what she’s uncovered? Read more at TheCMO.

Humphrey Ho of Hylink Group: 5 Ways to Use Marketing Automation to Improve Team Efficiencies was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

An Interview With Stephanie Hood, Editor of TheCMO

Get comfortable. Sometimes talking to strangers and starting a conversation is hard. Sometimes awkward. You have to be comfortable in sparking conversation, finding common ground, and sometimes carrying the conversation. Not everyone is a natural networker. And sometimes people you want to network with, don’t have the intention of doing the same. It takes practice to get good at networking in a manner in which your efforts will be worth your time.

The art of networking is pivotal in today’s interconnected world. Establishing meaningful connections can accelerate career growth, foster collaborations, and create opportunities that might otherwise remain hidden. Yet, the dynamics of networking are intricate, often requiring a nuanced blend of authenticity, strategy, and adaptability. And with the digital revolution, networking has transcended beyond face-to-face interactions to virtual platforms, expanding its scope and complexity. In this series, we would like to discuss the art and science behind effective networking. We are talking to seasoned professionals, career coaches, networking experts, and thought leaders who’ve mastered both traditional and online networking techniques. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Dawn Foster.

Dawn Foster, CEO of D. Foster Marketing, is a seasoned expert in the world of branding and marketing. For almost 20 years, she has worked with and led both large and small marketing teams to build brands and marketing strategies that span the globe.

Dawn is an unapologetic branding and marketing nerd, with a passion for research, analytics, and great storytelling through words and images. She is passionate about helping business owners build and evolve their businesses with the right branding and marketing strategies and tactics. She has helped transform businesses and business owners into powerhouses through research, strategic planning and content development, education, and empowerment so that they can achieve success and reach their goals.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about networking, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I’ve always been a creative. I started college as an interior design major, but switched to Graphic Design Communications with a focus in Marketing after my first semester. I started my career on the design side of marketing and advertising. I worked as a production artist, art director and everything in between before transitioning over to the planning and strategy side of marketing. From 2014 to 2016, I had two positions that really helped catapult my career. They were jobs that provided me with a ton of experience, knowledge and opportunity. I probably had about 8 years of opportunities packed into those years.

In 2020, I’d been cruising along in my career, when I had the opportunity to step away from my corporate position and become a full-time entrepreneur. It was an opportunity that came along at the right time. I’d spent the past two years thinking through what my purpose was, and had experienced enough discomfort at work that I was ready for something new and different. I thought new and different was going to be in the form of another job, but full-time entrepreneurship came knocking at my door and I was ready.

That was a little over 3 years ago.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

Well, since we’ll be on the topic of networking, it was because of my network, that I was able to walk away from the corporate space and become a full-time entrepreneur. The opportunity I received was from past coworkers, whom I worked with from 2012 to 2013. They were expanding their business, and called me in February of 2020, asking me if I’d be interested in consulting for them. Their only catch was that they wanted to be a priority, rather than compete with my then 9–5. I said okay, and turned in my letter of resignation a few weeks later.

My very first clients, as a full-time business owner, were people who I’d worked with 7 years prior. They knew my work ethic, my skillset, and thought of me, 7 years later. That was one of the most pivotal moments in my career.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

This is an easy answer. First, my faith. Second, my natural ability to figure things out… and then make it look easy. And third, would be my design background.

As an entrepreneur, there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to running a business. Because of my faith, and knowing that I’m living out my purpose, I’m able to hold strong during those unknown seasons. It’s allowed me to not give up when things are more… let’s say… difficult than I’d like to be.

My natural ability to figure things out, and make it look easy is one of my super powers. When I was in the corporate space, from 2014 to 2016 (the position that gave me a ton of experience), there were so many things that I said yes to, or took on, because I knew that I needed to learn and fill gaps in my skillset as a marketer. I said yes, took it on, figured it out, and no one ever knew that I spent the previous night or weekend, figuring out what the plan was the next day.

At the time, the running joke was that I was the go-to person for anything that had the company’s name or logo on it. Ask Dawn, get with Dawn, check with Dawn, Dawn knows.

Lastly, my creative background. That was something that really served me well in the corporate space. It allowed me to connect with, lead, inspire, and advocate for the designers, who were key players in getting all things marketing off the ground. When I came to them with a plan or strategy, because I knew their space, it made their lives easier. And when I came to them in a crunch, I’d already built a relationship with them, to make sure we were able to get the job done.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that we are all on the same page. How exactly do you define “Networking?” Is it just about meeting new people?

This is a great question. I’ve never really thought through how I define it. But no, I don’t consider it just meeting new people. I think it is more about relationship building. You can meet new people every day, but so what? Meeting someone, and then building a relationship, is where the networking begins.

In today’s digital age, how important is face-to-face networking, and how do you balance it with online networking?

I do a mix. And by mix, I mean that if we start with online emailing or messaging, I want to have a video call, to then lead to a face-to-face hopefully. If we meet via video call, at some point, I’m going to try to meet for coffee or lunch date. If I had to put a number to it, probably every third and then fourth interaction, I try to make it face-to-face. There is something about face-to-face that can’t be replicated digitally. Even when I meet people who aren’t near where I live, if I’m traveling to your city, I’m always trying to schedule a face-to-face.

How do you maintain and nurture professional relationships over time, both in person and online, to ensure they remain fruitful and mutually beneficial?

I’m a people person. When I meet people, in person or virtually, I’m listening/reading, relating, and seeing how we connect and align. So when that person randomly crosses my mind, I send a quick note just to say hello, see how they are doing, share an update, etc. I recognize that may be odd or out of the ordinary for some people. So I’m intentional about telling new people that I meet “Don’t be a stranger”, and let them know that I’m one hundred percent the person that will pop up in three weeks or three months with something random or an idea. And I let them know not to hesitate to do the same.

How important is personal branding when it comes to successful networking, and how can individuals develop and maintain a strong personal brand both online and in person?

There’s the magic word — branding. When it comes to networking, typically, it is for professional or business purposes. And branding, both personal branding and business branding, come into play when you are networking. How you show up, is part of your brand. For example, timeliness, professionalism, what you say, how you say it, how you treat the other people that you are around, are all components of your brand. All of those things translate, and are/can be taken into consideration, both online and offline.

What is your advice for young professionals who are just starting to build their network? How can they effectively reach out to and connect with experienced leaders in their field?

I don’t look at networking from the single perspective of ‘what can I get out of it’. Sometimes it is what you give, that can make a difference. Also, it’s not always about going straight to the person you want to network with. It can be about connecting with the people around them. For those two reasons, my advice would be to expand your view of who you want to network with. And when you do reach out for those connections, plant seeds first. And what I mean by that is try not to go right for the ask. People turn their ears off and ignore you when you go straight for the ask. But if you show genuine interest in what they are doing, something that you relate to or admire, or connect with them on a deeper level, then the ask feels more natural, and sets you up for a more favorable response.

Do you prioritize quality or quantity of connections? How do you determine when to invest more time in a particular relationship?

Quality for sure. If I can recognize that I align somehow with the person that I’m networking with, I’m always happy to invest more time. Like I said, I’m a people person. So if we’re aligned on core pillars, our experiences, or we just click, I’m in and ready to support. If we do business together, even better.

Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Strategies for Successful Networking, Both Online and Offline”?

1 . Get comfortable. Sometimes talking to strangers and starting a conversation is hard. Sometimes awkward. You have to be comfortable in sparking conversation, finding common ground, and sometimes carrying the conversation. Not everyone is a natural networker. And sometimes people you want to network with, don’t have the intention of doing the same. It takes practice to get good at networking in a manner in which your efforts will be worth your time.

2 . Know your limits. You can’t be in all the places, all the time. Sometimes you may stretch yourself too thin, and lose an opportunity because you went for quantity over quality. Knowing your limits also means paying attention to when you know you are at your best, and when you have the digital bandwidth to effectively network.

3 . Know your intent and be purposeful. This ties to quality over quantity as well. Sometimes there are opportunities to network, however, the people and businesses that you may want to network with, may not be in that specific online or offline space.

4 . Build a relationship first. This supports the like, know, trust philosophy. People are rarely willing to recommend or refer a person or business that they know nothing about. For example, just because a realtor gives me their business card, doesn’t mean that I’m going to refer them to my neighbor. I know nothing about the level of service they provide, how knowledgeable they are, their character, etc.

5 . Don’t drop the ball. One surefire way to fail is dropping the ball, and not being responsive when the window of opportunity presents itself. If you’ve worked to get the opportunity for a meeting, introduction or interview, not responding when the message comes through, is a disaster. Now you’ve damaged your brand and reputation.

What role does diversity and inclusion play in your networking approach? How do you ensure that your network is inclusive and represents a broad range of perspectives and backgrounds?

I believe that when people aren’t limited in their sphere of peers, who have the same life experiences as them, it makes them more well-rounded in all aspects of their lives. It also limits growth, to not meet and experience people that are different than you. For me, that is a life rule and also shows up in my networking as well.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’ll double down on my previous answer here. If we all took the time to listen and understand others, we’d be able to make the world a better place.

How can our readers further follow you online?

I can be found online at DFosterMarketing.com, and on LinkedIn and Instagram @dfostermarketing. You can find me on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/dawnpfoster. LinkedIn is my social media platform of choice, so be sure to find me. I get pretty chatty over there.

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!

About The Interviewer: Stephanie Hood is the Editor of The CMO and holds vast marketing experience in industries spanning media, publishing, tech, fashion and travel/tourism. Throughout her career, she has led editorial and marketing teams and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, consistently turning six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. With a passion for storytelling, Stephanie enjoys connecting with the world’s top executives to share their secrets to business success. Curious what she’s uncovered? Read more at TheCMO.

Highly Effective Networking: Dawn Foster On 5 Strategies for Successful Networking, Both Online and… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Get dynamic with your content. Your audience isn’t one size fits all, so your message shouldn’t be, either. Build audience personas, then customize your message based on their unique needs. Using dynamic content and platforms, you can create communications at scale while still personalizing for your unique audiences, and A/B test what’s working and what’s not.

The B2B marketing landscape is a complex and evolving space, with its unique challenges and opportunities. Navigating it effectively requires well-thought-out strategies and insightful tactics. With a myriad of digital channels available, what are the best ways to connect, engage, and convert potential business clients? As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Megan Neapolitan.

Megan Neapolitan is Chief Operating Officer at FOVNDRY, an integrated communications agency that builds and amplifies brands through smart branding, PR, marketing, and creative initiatives that meld to drive impact.

Megan is an agency veteran, supporting the development and execution of brand and communications strategies for state, regional, and national organizations — including Volkswagen and Audi of America, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Disney Corporate Alliances, Lincoln Property Company, and more. As FOVNDRY’s COO, Megan sits at the nexus of all internal and external operations, overseeing systems, resources, and outputs to ensure maximum efficacy. Megan holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising from The Pennsylvania State University.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?

I’ve always known I wanted to pursue a career in business and communications. Drawn to both creative expression and the psychology behind human behavior, I graduated from Penn State with bachelor’s degrees each in marketing and advertising and joined a small B2B marketing agency in Alexandria, VA, before landing an account service role at HZ, a prominent DC-area ad agency. There, I managed high-profile, high-production accounts like Volkswagen After Sales and VW CPO, as well as startups, and gained exposure to strategic concepting for Disney Corporate Alliances. My roles spanned project management, marketing strategy, mentorship, and more, giving me a comprehensive grasp of both B2C and B2B communications, as well as the essentials of effective agency operations, cross-departmental collaboration, and team management.

In 2020, I felt a pull to challenge myself and pursue a new opportunity where I could use all my passions and experiences on a deeper level. My collaboration with Laura Van Eperen, founder and CEO of a reputable, woman-owned PR firm formerly known as Van Eperen, marked a significant chapter in my journey. Laura had a vision of providing greater service to her clients through the infusion of marketing and creative services into her proven PR practice. I joined the team in a contract role as Director of Operations and Client Services, building essential systems and processes, and overseeing creative and marketing accounts. By the end of the same year, we made the position permanent; and in spring 2021, we relaunched as an integrated agency — FOVNDRY.

Today, as FOVNDRY’s COO, I oversee a myriad of responsibilities that facilitate efficient and effective collaboration and outputs, as well as guide external brand strategies and client relationships — all aimed at driving mutual success.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

People often joke to me that they couldn’t work with their spouse. And yes, living, parenting, carpooling, and working day in and day out with the same person can certainly be a challenge. But I can honestly say I wouldn’t be where I am today without my husband and FOVNDRY’s Creative Director, Jase Neapolitan.

We met early on in my career; Jase is a graphic designer and we both were assigned to support the Volkswagen account at our prior agency. I was a new account executive working for the first time in a true cross-functional environment and had such respect and admiration for creatives and their craft. It wasn’t enough for me to put in briefs and serve as a middle woman between our internal and client teams — I wanted to be part of the creative process and was deeply curious about the “how” and the “why” behind everything we did and delivered.

Working side by side for 8 years, Jase helped me hone my creative thinking — teaching me not just what questions to ask, but why they mattered and how to interpret the answers into ideas. We challenged and pushed each other constantly, and both learned a lot about ourselves (and car parts) along the way. That working relationship is what launched my love for strategy and ultimately inspired me to pursue the next stage in my career where I could live that passion daily. More than a decade later as I’ve taken on and grown in my role at FOVNDRY, Jase has been there through it all. Not only as my husband and father to our children, but as my professional cheerleader, sounding board, and counterpart. Personal biases aside, he’s one of the most talented creative professionals I’ve had the pleasure of working with and learning from.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

It’s not a quote, but rather a visual depiction of the Growth Mindset. To me, a Growth Mindset is about how you perceive and approach challenges. It’s easy to stay in your comfort zone — to avoid situations where you feel safe, confident, and in control. But growth occurs when you embrace challenges as opportunities to learn and gain new skills and knowledge. It’s not about luck or optimism. It’s intentional and takes risk, hard work, and persistence. And with every challenge you tackle or new skill you acquire, you expand your comfort zone and your ability to overcome new challenges that come your way.

I have a graphic of the Growth Mindset zones — comfort, fear, learning, and growth — framed and hanging next to my desk in my office. It’s a reminder that discomfort and uncertainty are natural and essential components of personal growth.

Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?

I’d have to say curiosity, open-mindedness, and adept communication.

I’m innately curious, constantly seeking out and absorbing new information. I view a lack of understanding or experience in something as an invitation and drive to learn. And I’m genuinely excited and inspired by new ideas. In my quest for knowledge, I aim to be open-minded and empathetic. My mentor once told me that there are three sides to every story — yours, mine, and the truth that lies somewhere in the middle. It really resonated with me, and so I approach situations understanding that every narrative has multiple facets, and that it’s critical to view things from diverse perspectives. And lastly, being an effective communicator — clearly conveying ideas, actively listening, and tailoring my communication styles to varied audiences — has been paramount. It’s the foundation for connection, which is one of my most crucial and rewarding roles.

For those looking to cultivate these traits, my advice is simple: Read and consume as much content as you can get your hands on. Immersing yourself in different styles and perspectives can be truly transformative.

Which skills are you still trying to grow now?

Personal branding. It’s ironic the number of communications professionals who are exceptional at promoting others but struggle to do it for themselves. It’s an area outside of my current comfort zone, but a work in progress as I define my niche and uncover the most authentic way to share my voice. I’ve been inspired by numerous professionals who use their platforms to share knowledge and expertise and hope to do the same with my own passions and experiences.

Let’s talk about B2B marketing. Can you share some insights into how you perceive the current landscape of B2B marketing?

There’s a lot of uncertainly — and even more opportunity. It’s no surprise that the B2B landscape has undergone some serious changes over the past few years with the infusion of automated tools — and of course, AI. There has, rightfully, been some trepidation among marketers and content creators regarding the impact on the industry and the future of our careers. We’ve seen it in the uptick of programmatic advertising over manual optimization, the use of chat bots on websites over customer support specialists, and the overwhelming surge in the sheer volume of ChatGPT-produced content across channels.

But there’s also been an impressive rise to the challenge among industry pros, with tools, platforms, and people embracing AI as a force multiplier for creativity and results. Faster mining of data and automation of internal workflows and processes, for example, enable marketing professionals to focus more of their energy on employing their most valuable assets — human insights and expertise.

Despite all this change, one thing remains constant: Authenticity and relationships can make or break success in B2B marketing. While many ride the trend of mass-producing automated content as a means for generating leads, those who leverage their expertise to build and nurture true connections will succeed.

How have recent market trends and changes influenced your approach to outperforming competitors?

Economic uncertainty and fluctuating outlooks on business spending have certainly had an impact on marketing budgets. As an agency, we understand these concerns and encourage clients to double down on three critical areas: Brand, strategy, and organic thought-leadership content. Unlike paid media spends that can be costly and fleeting, these pillars provide lasting value — fostering genuine connections and trust and sustaining audience engagement for long-term success.

B2B buying cycles can often be lengthy and complex. How do you maintain engagement and nurture leads throughout the various stages of the buyer’s journey?

Consistently demonstrating genuine interest in addressing the challenges your prospects face is paramount. While much of marketing can be promotional and transactional, emphasizing surface-level benefits, it’s essential to remember that decision-makers are individuals influenced by emotions and aspirations. By maintaining a consistent cadence of valuable content — whether via emails, webinars, blogs, or social platforms — you not only educate but also solidify your organization’s position as trusted experts, establishing a relationship and elevating your position in their consideration set.

Personalization is gaining prominence in B2B marketing. What are some ways marketers can effectively leverage data to deliver personalized experiences?

To effectively deliver tailored experiences, it’s crucial to segment audiences and build personas. Even among niche and finely tuned audiences, individual buyers have unique considerations and preferences. Categorizing prospects based on things like demographics is great, but by segmenting based on behaviors, needs, and decision-making patterns, you can pinpoint specific pain points and preferences and craft messages that truly resonate — leading to more meaningful engagements and conversions.

ABM has also gained traction for its personalized approach to targeting high-value accounts. What advice would you give to fellow B2B marketers looking to adopt this strategy?

Adopting an ABM strategy requires a shift in mindset, particularly in how we view the traditional boundaries between marketing and sales. One of the most crucial pieces of advice I’d offer is to actively bridge the gap between these two functions. High-value accounts aren’t just another sales opportunity; they require a nuanced approach. It’s imperative to provide these prospects with content that brings genuine value, addressing their specific challenges and needs. By fostering collaboration between marketing and sales, you can ensure your messaging is consistent, insightful, and tailored to the unique characteristics of each target account.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are 5 Tips for Your B2B Marketing Strategy to Help You Beat Competitors? Please share a story or example for each.

1. Conduct external stakeholder interviews or surveys to get to know your target audiences on a deeper level. Beyond internal perceptions and surface-level audience data, tapping into mindsets, pain points, and insights can help you connect on an aspirational level vs. transactional. Your current customers are an ideal place to start.

2. Optimize your brand both internally and externally. Clearly articulate your core values and unique selling points, ensuring that internal practices mirror external communications. For example, a company that promotes innovation in its external value proposition should equally celebrate and incentivize innovative thinking within.

3. Prioritize solutions over platforms. Instead of diving headfirst into the latest channel or trend, understand your audience’s core needs, and what you’re looking to achieve. If building relationships is a priority, focus on tailored, valuable content. Then, select platforms that align with this approach, ensuring every tool or channel serves a strategic purpose. When it comes to your marketing stack, think quality over quantity.

4. Connect across the full user experience. Decisions aren’t made via a single touchpoint, but rather through numerous interactions across channels and platforms. Consider the full journey of the customer and build a holistic and cohesive strategy that meets them where they are to drive them through the funnel toward action.

5. Get dynamic with your content. Your audience isn’t one size fits all, so your message shouldn’t be, either. Build audience personas, then customize your message based on their unique needs. Using dynamic content and platforms, you can create communications at scale while still personalizing for your unique audiences, and A/B test what’s working and what’s not.

How do you utilize data or AI to refine your B2B marketing approach, and what tools have been particularly impactful in gaining a competitive advantage?

Every week, it seems there’s a new AI-powered tool — there’s a lot to keep up with! In my experience, I’ve found AI to be most valuable in conducting research to inform strategy and messaging. Through social listening and consumer intelligence tools like Brandwatch, we glean insights into brand sentiment, trends, and emerging themes, enabling us to craft content that’s both timely and relevant. For search engine optimization (SEO), SEMrush and Ahrefs help us quickly analyze competitors’ content strategies to uncover gaps and opportunities for our clients to break through. And there’s a multitude of free, platform-native tools for analyzing and reporting marketing and campaign effectiveness in real time. Combined with human experiences and smart creative, this access to data empowers us to build and execute more informed and impactful strategies.

Which digital channels have you found most effective in reaching your target audience, and how do you optimize your presence across these channels to outshine competitors?

The effectiveness of a digital channel often hinges on the alignment between the target audience and the content’s value, rather than just the channel itself. That said, channels like email and LinkedIn that highlight and amplify thought leadership prove most impactful. Meeting B2B audiences where they are and directing them to more comprehensive resources like blogs, contributed articles, webinars, or podcasts, these channels empower businesses to tangibly demonstrate their expertise and depth. To further optimize these efforts, ensure a cohesive brand voice, maintain consistency across all platforms, and establish clear paths to conversion.

Are there any underrated skills or qualities that you encourage others not to overlook?

Self-awareness and humility — being able to take a step back and look at our own behavior objectively, to accept criticism and feedback in a constructive manner, and to move forward with dignity and integrity. Both in and outside of the workplace, these qualities serve as the foundation for effective communication, strong leadership, meaningful relationships, and personal growth.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

If I could champion a movement, it would be to prioritize mental health, particularly within the workplace and among women and mothers. The drive to constantly climb the career ladder and gracefully navigate challenges often carries an underacknowledged emotional toll. This is particularly evident when considering the alarming rates of postpartum depression and anxiety among women — issues that are often intensified by societal stigmas surrounding mental health. By providing tangible resources and comprehensive mental health training for workplace leaders, this movement would aim to dismantle the stigma and create an environment where emotional and psychological well-being are prioritized, enabling everyone to thrive both personally and professionally.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Whitney Wolfe Herd, Founder and CEO of Bumble. She’s a mom, a CEO, a leader, and an advocate for women — shattering glass ceilings while holding her baby on her hip. I was both proud and impressed when she became the youngest female CEO to take a major U.S. company public a few years ago, making a massive statement for women and fellow working moms everywhere.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About The Interviewer: Stephanie Hood is the Editor of The CMO and holds vast marketing experience in industries spanning media, publishing, tech, fashion and travel/tourism. Throughout her career, she has led editorial and marketing teams and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, consistently turning six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. With a passion for storytelling, Stephanie enjoys connecting with the world’s top executives to share their secrets to business success. Curious what she’s uncovered? Read more at TheCMO.

Megan Neapolitan of FOVNDRY: 5 Tips for Your B2B Marketing Strategy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Let your personality shine. We’ve already talked about the clutter in B2B marketing. One way to stand out is to have a personality and voice that matches your brand values and differentiators.

The B2B marketing landscape is a complex and evolving space, with its unique challenges and opportunities. Navigating it effectively requires well-thought-out strategies and insightful tactics. With a myriad of digital channels available, what are the best ways to connect, engage, and convert potential business clients? As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Renee Spurlin.

Passionate about breaking down the barriers between communications, marketing and sales, Renee has made it her mission to blur the lines between these disciplines. As Alloy’s executive vice president, Renee oversees the agency’s integrated methodology — bringing media relations, content marketing, and social media successes together with lead generation and nurturing to close the gap between traditional PR and sales. Named PRNews’ 2019 Innovator of the Year, Renee is the past president of AMA Atlanta, the American Marketing Association’s third-largest chapter.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Oh, there are so many people I’m grateful to. But if I have to choose one I’d start with my parents, who I credit with my writing abiiities. I loved to read as a kid, and they would make me write a book report for every book I completed before I could get a new one. This made written communication a foundation in my life, which has definitely helped propel my career.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” — Edgar Allan Poe

This may not seem like a typical life lesson quote, but it’s something I try to apply to both my personal and professional lives. It’s so easy to get caught up in day-to-day tasks that we forget to take the time to use our imaginations. But as marketers, it’s our imaginations that will really set us apart.

Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?

I already mentioned writing, which I definitely think has contributed to my career growth. Being able to express your ideas succinctly, in a way that’s relevant to your audience — be it your board of directors or your buyers — is key to getting buy in and results. The best tip I have for people wanting to amp up their writing skills is to read, read, read. Take note of the various writing styles as you do so — how people structure stories, sentences, word choice. Axios is one of my favorite sources of crisp, clean, concise writing.

A second characteristic comes from a review I received early in my career calling me “unflappable” — a word I’ve embraced ever since. Unflabble doesn’t mean unemotional or uncaring, but it means not being shaken from your goals. As marketers, there’s a lot that can shake us — new tools, new competitors, new imperatives, new personalities — but it’s important to keep perspective on what we’re working toward.

Finally, I’d say having an analytical mindset has been foundational to my career. I came up through the world of PR, which isn’t typically known for its measurement. Being able to find new ways to measure impact has helped prove the value of PR, communications and marketing to the brands I’ve worked with.

Which skills are you still trying to grow now?

Analytics! Yes, I mentioned that in my previous answer too, but our ability to measure and connect dots continues to get better and smoother, so continuing to build knowledge of the tools and techniques available is a continued focus for me.

Let’s talk about B2B marketing. Can you share some insights into how you perceive the current landscape of B2B marketing?

It’s an exciting time to be in B2B marketing — if you’re up for a challenge. It’s getting noisier and noisier. AI is making content even more of a commodity. The playbooks that worked — e.g., gated content, nurture, demo, sale! — are no longer as effective. The good news is that’s reinvigoting creativity in B2B marketing. We are going to have to sound different and look different to stand out, and I’m here for it.

How have recent market trends and changes influenced your approach to outperforming competitors?
The noise and economic uncertainty have made it a challenging time for B2B marketing. It’s a bit ironic that this is the time when marketers need to get bold to counter these two trends, and yet often that’s the exact time that we get conservative. Because of these trends, we’re advising clients to show their personalities, to show their values to stand out. We’re also advising them to prioritize customer growth. At a time when buying cycles are lagging and prospects face uncertainties and tightening budgets, it’s time to double down on protecting and growing your existing client base.

B2B buying cycles can often be lengthy and complex. How do you maintain engagement and nurture leads throughout the various stages of the buyer’s journey?

This is where close alignment between marketing and sales is key. There is so much marketers can do with personalization and automation — for example, triggered emails based on where someone is in their journey containing the content and CTAs that have proven to be most effective at that stage. Sales and marketing teams should also be looking for unplanned trigger points — such as economic or industry trends, changes in the prospect’s business and competitor news — and conduct personalized outreach on its impact to the prospective buyer. That can be through a mix of phone calls, email marketing, content and social, depending on the news.

Personalization is gaining prominence in B2B marketing. What are some ways marketers can effectively leverage data to deliver personalized experiences?

The key to personalization is to collect the right data. B2B marketers tend to collect the same few pieces of information — name, title, company, industry and location. That works fine if your solution’s value is highly based on industry or geography. But don’t rely on standard forms and prospect profile questions if that’s not where your differentiation lies. Perhaps you’d be better suited knowing their current solution, or whether they insource or outsource certain aspects of their business. Ask yourself where you can truly stand out, and then collect data based on how you can tell that story to prospective customers.

ABM has also gained traction for its personalized approach to targeting high-value accounts. What advice would you give to fellow B2B marketers looking to adopt this strategy?

ABM isn’t a tactic, but it’s often treated like one. ABM should be a strategy that permeates across your marketing team. Of course, that includes email marketing and advertising, which are the typical two channels marketers think of when they think of ABM, but it also should include your approach to social media, content marketing, and even media relations. Aligning these teams on your target accounts, continually listening out for trends impacting them, and creating a cohesive communications plan addressing their challenges and opportunities will make a more effective ABM program.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are 5 Tips for Your B2B Marketing Strategy to Help You Beat Competitors? Please share a story or example for each.

1 . Let your personality shine. We’ve already talked about the clutter in B2B marketing. One way to stand out is to have a personality and voice that matches your brand values and differentiators. For example, client Unbabel, a language operations platform, has fun with language, ruminating on what it’s like to communicate in other galaxies or under the sea.

2 . Don’t neglect your customers. So often in B2B marketing, we generate conversions, drive opportunities and closed deals, and then move on to the next prospect. But the customer journey is really just beginning at that point. Marketing should be in close alignment with sales and customer success to understand customer needs, challenges and opportunities and keep the conversation going. My agency is in the process of onboarding Kantata, and they’ve been excellent at managing this transition and our expectations so far.

3 . Turn customers into champions. If you do #2 effectively, you should have a strong base of customer support. Those customers can be your most effective marketing tool. Their voices carry a ton of weight with your prospects, so leveraging them for reviews, cross-collaboration in content, and PR efforts is a great validator. My agency handles B2B PR for several tech companies, and the top request from journalists is customer stories, like this one on behalf of Prevedere.

4 . Don’t over-rely on data — let imaginative ideas come to life. Often decision makers want “proof” a concept is going to work before bringing it to life. Obviously data has helped us as marketers make much smarter, more targeted decisions. However, it can be a creativity drain to only rely on previous campaign performance to inform new campaigns. For example, Slack recently described its move away from its “workhorse” ad approach, but an over-reliance on data would have had the company simply attempting to optimize its always-on approach instead of trying a completely different ad strategy.

5 . Focus on your values. My career started in CSR (corporate social responsiblity), but I rarely have a chance to flex that muscle now that I primarily focus on B2B. Not that B2B companies don’t give back to their communities, but few do so with the strategy, value-alignment and mutual benefit of B2C companies like Dove. I’m advocating for that to change in the coming years, with CSR becoming a core differentiator for B2B brands looking to stand out from competitors.

How do you utilize data or AI to refine your B2B marketing approach, and what tools have been particularly impactful in gaining a competitive advantage?

Refine is exactly the right word to use when it comes to how we’re using AI. We love Writer to streamline our editing process, and it allows us to make sure content is written at the right level and in the right tone for our personas. It and ChatGPT are also helpful when we have creativity blocks — for example, giving headline options and titling events. ChatGPT is also helpful in generating competitive research.

Which digital channels have you found most effective in reaching your target audience, and how do you optimize your presence across these channels to outshine competitors?

For most of our clients, LinkedIn continues to be a top performer. But outshining competitors on this noisy platform takes a combination of paid, owned and shared content. Employees tend to be a brand’s most powerful voice on LinkedIn, so we really emphasize the shared part of that mix, conducting trainings on how team members can be brand ambassadors while maintaining their own voice and authenticity. Then we couple that with thought leadership-oriented brand content and conversion-based ad programs to continually boost awareness, preference and leads.

Are there any underrated skills or qualities that you encourage others not to overlook?

Did I mention writing? Even in roles that don’t require a lot of it, being able to concisely articulate your ideas and opinions is key to getting understanding and buy in from stakeholders — be it your buyers, your team or your boss.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

My agency was founded on the mantra that we should “Believe the best IN each other, want the best FOR each other and expect the best FROM each other.” Imagine how much better our lives would be if we could all take this into account with every interaction. So often, we make assumptions about others’ intent. If only we could assume positively until proven otherwise, I think we would all get more from each other and be happier overall.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

My team would probably never speak to me again if I didn’t say Taylor Swift. What a masterful marketer. She has truly perfected the art of making people feel seen, understood, and like they are being directly spoken to.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About The Interviewer: Stephanie Hood is the Editor of The CMO and holds vast marketing experience in industries spanning media, publishing, tech, fashion and travel/tourism. Throughout her career, she has led editorial and marketing teams and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, consistently turning six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. With a passion for storytelling, Stephanie enjoys connecting with the world’s top executives to share their secrets to business success. Curious what she’s uncovered? Read more at TheCMO.

Renee Spurlin of Alloy: 5 Tips for Your B2B Marketing Strategy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Engage partners you trust — partners that are effective at delivering what they promise but are willing to work with you. Partners that can share relevant content and resources. It’s a plus if they can support multiple departments and understand your business.

The B2B marketing landscape is a complex and evolving space, with its unique challenges and opportunities. Navigating it effectively requires well-thought-out strategies and insightful tactics. With a myriad of digital channels available, what are the best ways to connect, engage, and convert potential business clients? As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Gerald Youngblood.

Gerald Youngblood is an award-winning technology and gaming executive. As the Chief Marketing Officer for Lenovo North America, he drives regional marketing and communications for the leading global technology brand. His team is responsible for growing customer and partner preference for the entire portfolio of Lenovo commercial and consumer offerings. He is also the co-founder of Tankee, a parent-approved destination for kids to watch gaming video content they love. Youngblood holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Dallas. He’s married and has a son who games with him several times a week, purely for research purposes.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?

Sure, I am extremely fortunate to work in a space where my day job is aligned with my passions for technology, gaming, and community impact. As the Chief Marketing Officer for Lenovo North America, I lead marketing for all products and services in the US and Canada. I am also the co-founder of Tankee, a media company dedicated to family-friendly gaming content where we help parents protect their kids from inappropriate gaming content while giving kids access to videos they love. Technology can be a great tool for people of all ages to build their dreams.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There have been so many people who have graciously contributed to my growth and development, but if I had to pick one, I’d start with my mom, Bee Youngblood. My mother has always led by example through her actions. When we were growing up, my mom made it her mission to find a way. Sometimes that meant picking up a second job or waking up before sunrise to take me to PC part swap meets. I learned from her that the true essence of a person shows through their actions. It is something I lean on every day.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“I dream my painting and I paint my dreams,” is a quote from Vincent Van Gogh. This is central to my life because I never want to stop dreaming. It directly ties to what I’ve learned by starting a company where kids were central to our mission. Kids have taught me so much about the need to approach the world with fresh eyes and dream big. The most recent partnerships like Formula 1 and the Dallas Cowboys that we’ve secured at Lenovo over the last 2 years would not have happened without dreaming big and doing the work to bring it to life.

Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?

I would say I’ve been guided by passion, an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong sense of civic responsibility.

As a kid, I had a book called “How Computers Work” and I convinced my parents to take me to a swap meet to get the parts to build my first PC. Smoke shot out when I turned it on, but that challenge to build a PC as a kid led to a real passion for the PC industry.

Entrepreneurialism really came in as my wife and I created a platform for kids to watch gaming. We were inspired by our son. As a startup CEO building a brand, you have to be creative, and that creativity is something that I try to infuse in my day-to-day work at Lenovo.

Civic responsibility has always guided me. But at Lenovo, the mission to bring smarter technology to all has really resonated. My job is to bring access to technology to diverse and sometimes remote audiences. We are giving people a platform to more fully express themselves in a technology powered world. That has had a huge impact on who I am now and will make me a better leader for years to come.

Which skills are you still trying to grow now?

Every year I select a theme for the year and the theme for 2023 is introspection. I am working hard to evolve myself so that I can scale for my team while being present for my family. I’ve recently taken the Enneagram assessment to identify my strengths and opportunities for growth. It’s a great way to ensure that I’m improving my effectiveness in a healthy way.

Let’s talk about B2B marketing. Can you share some insights into how you perceive the current landscape of B2B marketing?

Customers are more selective, more budget conscious. Understanding how we message to customers on these priorities is something we have become acutely aware of. We’re more focused than ever on understanding businesses and tailoring content to their needs.

There’s been a shift in how we evaluate leads and an emphasis on prioritizing quality over quantity. The result has been delivering higher quality leads, greater and more accurate revenue projections.

We’re doing this by identifying the right decision-makers with sales, paying closer attention to the full customer journey, and understanding the appropriate touchpoints based on where each customer is in their purchase journey.

How have recent market trends and changes influenced your approach to outperforming competitors?

We are better aligning marketing and sales to create improvements across lead quality, pipeline, and ultimately, conversion. Jointly defining goals is critical to this process.

B2B buying cycles can often be lengthy and complex. How do you maintain engagement and nurture leads throughout the various stages of the buyer’s journey?

By strengthening the relationship between sales and marketing, we’ve been able to nurture leads no matter where they are in the pipeline.

We are focused on a holistic approach, and we believe that starts with being in lock-step with sales as well as other departments, so that we have a shared and unified understanding of the voice of our customer.

Having strong partners that you trust can be an important resource — those partners are key stakeholders in our feedback loop who can help further shape that customer voice. It’s also an important indicator of what those same customers will need next and when.

The data that advertisers get has been progressively changing. Providers are removing a lot of the contextual data around personal information for banner and video ads. This has been happening over time, so looking at other engagement information is important.

Connecting the dots between entry points on our website is crucial. For instance, if a customer comes to Lenovo.com from a healthcare technology article, we can potentially shift the homepage to start on a relevant hero image or reorder links accordingly.

We are looking at reporting data to understand what device people are reading on, and that allows us to parse the data to better understand how content is performing.

What are 5 Tips for Your B2B Marketing Strategy to Help You Beat Competitors? Please share a story or example for each.

1 . Engage partners you trust — partners that are effective at delivering what they promise but are willing to work with you. Partners that can share relevant content and resources. It’s a plus if they can support multiple departments and understand your business.

2 . Prioritize a strong relationship with sales. Have a willingness to step outside of your job description. Take on roles of sales enablement, because we know it will have a positive impact and help us succeed.

3 . Encourage resourcefulness and agility across departments to better serve customers.

4 . Prioritize quality over quantity. You will deliver higher quality leads, greater and more accurate revenue projections

5 . Establish a normalized cadence for reports, demand gen activity, and pipeline revenue. Measurement begets growth.

How do you utilize data or AI to refine your B2B marketing approach, and what tools have been particularly impactful in gaining a competitive advantage?

We’ve standardized our social media engagement platform to ensure we’re aggregating real-time social data from paid to organic across multiple platforms.

We’ve also recently introduced a new ad serving platform so that we can connect data more effectively across multiple campaigns.

Another key tool we’ve implemented is a more robust lead management platform to assist lead development managers in reaching a broader pool of contacts prior to the sales opportunity handoff.

It’s important that marketing acts as the ultimate partner and the conduit that considers the voice of marketing, sales and our customers, and to use that to inform customer engagement decisions.

Which digital channels have you found most effective in reaching your target audience, and how do you optimize your presence across these channels to outshine competitors?

We’ve recently found more ways to connect our ecommerce platform and our digital communities with our broader marketing efforts, so that insights can be shared more quickly.

We outperform our competitors with a focus on real-world stories that show customers building and implementing technology to drive their business. These tangible examples of success speak volumes in a sea of fanciful ads.

We’re also a global technology powerhouse with world-class products from the pocket to the cloud so the breadth of our capabilities makes it easier for our customers to build end-to-end solutions with Lenovo.

Are there any underrated skills or qualities that you encourage others not to overlook?

Coachability! It’s incredible to have people on your team who are not just open to learning, but voracious when it comes to perfecting their craft. I try to be coachable as well. I learn from people throughout the company, especially people on my team.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I have a fundamental belief that everyone is equally powerful. I will never forget the first time I held my son. You would think that a 6-pound baby is less powerful than the president or a billionaire or a CEO, but that kid changed my whole existence. I’ve had those experiences my whole life. There were non-verbal autistic kids that rode horses at this farm where I volunteered. Seeing their smiles in those moments told me that everyone has power, but so many people think their presence doesn’t matter. I would start the Equal Power Society and invite everyone to step into their power.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Emmitt Smith. I grew up in Dallas watching Emmitt Smith. He is the all-time leading rusher in the NFL, and he always seemed so humble. Then he retired and endeavored to learn about building businesses. Now he’s successful at that and yet he never made moments about himself. I truly admire that type of humble, yet powerful leadership.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About The Interviewer: Stephanie Hood is the Editor of The CMO and holds vast marketing experience in industries spanning media, publishing, tech, fashion and travel/tourism. Throughout her career, she has led editorial and marketing teams and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, consistently turning six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. With a passion for storytelling, Stephanie enjoys connecting with the world’s top executives to share their secrets to business success. Curious what she’s uncovered? Read more at TheCMO.

Gerald Youngblood Of Lenovo North America: 5 Tips for Your B2B Marketing Strategy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

1 . Personalisation — When we use our CDP tool to garner insights, we are able to target that specific user or potential user with an emailer to perhaps target on that particular product or service he wanted to pursue.

2 . Segmentation with mails- If a user is in a “buying” phase of his journey, he/she will be targeted with specific content in his/her emailer to find reasons as to why he should definitely buy that particular product.

3 . Workflow- For example for our SaaS brand for OKRs, we provide emails after the sign up and guide the users through the post sign up journey. The content varies as per the kind of sign up it is.

4 . Social media scheduling and reporting- Saves time in scheduling the pre decided content and shares a customised report and we utilise that to provide insights as per the reports.

5 . Customised campaign for retargeting — We use customised campaigns specific for the current users to keep them still interested by providing discounts and delights using our CDP tool.

In the current era of rapid technological advancements, marketing automation has become a fundamental asset to any business. It has the potential to not only streamline operations, but also to significantly boost team efficiencies. As we explore its various applications, we would like to highlight how it can transform day-to-day tasks, foster innovation, and ultimately enhance performance. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Vibhu Satpaul.

He is the founder at Saffron Edge, where he is responsible for overseeing the company’s technology, digital transformation, and marketing operations. Vibhu, a tech expert, has a focus on creating innovative products in the areas of digital transformation, quality automation, marketing, project management, and human resource development, he is a driving force behind Saffron Edge’s success.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?

I am CEO and founder of Saffron Edge. I am entrepreneurial in nature with experience and understanding of different businesses in domains of Tech product development and marketing services. I come from a tech background with my formal studies in information systems. With Saffron we started 15 years ago and we saw that there was a constant demand for product development and marketing. We enabled many businesses with tech products and then grew them with our marketing skills. Our core competencies are organic growth and performance marketing in DTC and Saas companies.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Yes absolutely. I think it would be my parents. But i would like to talk about my father in particular. I was fortunate enough to have good schooling and parenting to help me be here in what i am. He has been there to guide me enough that i could try new and different things in life. Without much control and fair amount of freedom I was able to explore and become adventurous in life.

While saying this he was quite good at pulling off his support or give me any further directions on purpose so that I could grow with difficult circumstances or challenges whenever I faced. I am sure of his conviction for me to try to be in some form of business. If it wasnt there in the beginning i would not have started Saffron 15 yrs back.

Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?

I have always viewed myself as an entrepreneur who welcomes challenges in this competitive market. Without the yearning to learn more, one cannot grow. You should always aim to become better and not the best.

Always finding new approaches to solve a problem has helped me to gain new skills as well. Always seek opportunities to grow and never stop.

Being a good listener is not only for my teams but also for the other stakeholders. This skill helps in solving major issues in the corporate world.

Which skills are you still trying to grow now?

The toughest skill to hone for today and which I am also currently working on is how to achieve sustainable scalability for my business here so as to make financially strong decisions for long term growth and sustainability.

Let’s talk about marketing automation. What impact has marketing automation had on streamlining and enhancing your team’s operations, KPIs, and overall efficiency?

Marketing automation has revolutionized our operations and elevated our efficiency significantly over the past 5 years or so. Our toolbox now includes specialized tools tailored to our clients’ industries, such as Klaviyo for D2C and Ecommerce, and SEMRUSH for SaaS. We also use Mailchimp, known for its cost-effectiveness and is efficient. This has helped us also to evaluate hiring and people who have capabilities in Marketing automation.

Through marketing automation, we’ve not only streamlined our processes but also fostered a collaborative approach with clients. From day one, we set clear KPIs and objectives, and these are continuously monitored and reported on, ensuring alignment between our team and our clients. This synergy has greatly improved our overall performance and client satisfaction.

At most it also brings transparency which makes our team and our clients be on the same page all the time.

What’s your favorite marketing automation tool and way in which to use it?

We don’t have a single favorite marketing automation tool; instead, we rely on a suite of tools that cater to the unique needs of our clients in the SaaS and DTC/Ecommerce industries. We also believe that the team that knows how to use them correctly can utilize its value with true potential.

To quote the best one, Klaviyo for DTC clients of ours. We have been able to reduce our time to create customized workflows, segment audiences, SMS and email marketing. Its one tool to control a lot of areas of our work. It also supports multiple ecommerce DTC platforms which makes us reach out to all kinds of platforms for our clients. Advanced Personalisation enables us to provide tailored messages to our clients end users. This in fact is in my opinion the strongest area that we look for in marketing automation tools.

Ensuring a personalized customer experience is crucial in today’s marketing landscape. How do you balance automation while maintaining a human touch?

Great question. I was just referring to personalisation from the marketing tools on how powerful it is.

Today personal experience is crucial. The way the world is moving, advancement of AI in every sphere of life, the dichotomy between technology and human insight can be bridged. We achieve this balance by taking personalization to an advanced level.

Rather than relying solely on automation, we encourage our clients to create experiences that foster direct interaction with their audience using data derived from these tools.

We segment users extensively, going beyond basic automation. This allows us to recommend actions that engage users on a more personal level. From suggesting meetups based on user preferences to orchestrating the delivery of hand-written notes through trusted partners, we blend technology with traditional marketing techniques to ensure a holistic and personalized customer experience. This approach keeps the human touch intact while harnessing the power of technology to drive engagement and satisfaction. While saying this we need to do more and more as that would distinguish a brand from another. Small things like real human interventions and gestures do matter.

Data is also a cornerstone of effective marketing automation. How do you utilize data-driven insights to continuously refine and optimize your automated campaigns?

We utilize Customer Data Platforms (CDP), specifically Segment, to seamlessly integrate and manage data within most of our campaigns.To extract actionable insights, we have dedicated teams that meticulously segment and analyze this data. These insights form the bedrock of our campaign optimization efforts. By continuously refining our targeting, messaging, and timing based on these data-driven insights, we ensure that our automated campaigns remain highly effective and responsive.

As AI and machine learning become more prominent, how have you integrated these technologies to not only automate tasks but also to provide predictive insights?

AI, while incredibly powerful, is not a magic solution that automatically provides predictive insights. At Least till now. We do have some really good tools which are AI based and some essential tools which are not AI tools yet. Most of these AI tools are good to work to begin with.

As the data becomes big you have to rely on a team of experts. As they are curators of utilizing this type of data and tools. That is what we do, we bring together a team of seasoned experts who understand deep knowledge of capabilities of these tools. They also understand specific industries to create insights. They stay attuned to the latest trends, emerging technologies, and market dynamics. Using existing KPIs and formulas there is some level or predictive modeling that can be done. For example there are some good tools which essentially could let you know the cross sell- upsell products, they can predict churns that are likely to happen, pattern recognition and customer lifetime value predictions. Some of this is not readily available with full support in one tool.

What strategies have you found most effective in integrating marketing automation with other departments, such as sales or customer service, to create a cohesive and efficient end-to-end customer experience?

For customer experience we review, train and collaborate with each department. Measure touch points through these tools. Then from our analysis we enhance the customer experience digitally.

We first make sure we have unified customer data that is accessed by the marketing, sales team and Customer services team. Having one centralized customer data is extremely important. Most of the products like salesforce cloud commerce,Shopify Plus, Microsoft dynamics commerce 356, SAP Commerce Cloud are some of these which allow integrations quite easily. This is the first battle that needs to be won as the campaigns that we run or create allows everyone to review customer data easily.

We have collaborative tools like Slack and Discord to keep everyone informed. These platforms are helpful in collaborating effectively with the employees and also with the clients. Defining KPIs for each team and aligning to these helps in keeping all the managers in the loop with their team.

Implementing marketing automation can come with a certain degree of change management. What tips do you have for introducing a new tool or process to a pre-existing team?

AI is integral today for everyone. Since Open AI has allowed everyone to use AI in personal lives also, people are adapting to it in the corporate world as well. To avail this to all employees, we have different sessions and courses to let them use and integrate it in their processes as well. We also Listen to concerns, acknowledge them, and work collaboratively to find solutions. Highlight how it has improved outcomes, reduced workload, or enhanced results. A dedicated support system can reduce frustration and resistance as well.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are 5 Ways to Use Marketing Automation to Improve Team Efficiencies? Please share a story or example for each.

1 . Personalisation — When we use our CDP tool to garner insights, we are able to target that specific user or potential user with an emailer to perhaps target on that particular product or service he wanted to pursue.

2 . Segmentation with mails- If a user is in a “buying” phase of his journey, he/she will be targeted with specific content in his/her emailer to find reasons as to why he should definitely buy that particular product.

3 . Workflow- For example for our SaaS brand for OKRs, we provide emails after the sign up and guide the users through the post sign up journey. The content varies as per the kind of sign up it is.

4 . Social media scheduling and reporting- Saves time in scheduling the pre decided content and shares a customised report and we utilise that to provide insights as per the reports.

5 . Customised campaign for retargeting — We use customised campaigns specific for the current users to keep them still interested by providing discounts and delights using our CDP tool.

Can you share a story about a challenge you faced with marketing automation, and how you overcame it?

For a healthcare DTC client of ours, we were unable to get good engagement and there was only 9% of click rate for opening the newsletters and emailers. So we used Mailchimp to get segmentation and personalisation in our audience sets according to our ICPs that we created. For content, we did A/B testing and made it more informative and less generic. Timing of the emailers was changed according to the analytics. This helped us in better click rates to 14% and less people unsubscribed to it.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Today we can automate our life. We have technology to ease our chores and reduce human efforts. With that in mind I would like Quality education for all, which is easy and accessible. This should be based on what is needed in the future, not only what is being taught currently. Keeping in mind not to forget our history and culture as that has paved the way for us. While we have new tech to ease our work we need to establish a cohesive education system.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About The Interviewer: Stephanie Hood is the Editor of The CMO and holds vast marketing experience in industries spanning media, publishing, tech, fashion and travel/tourism. Throughout her career, she has led editorial and marketing teams and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, consistently turning six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. With a passion for storytelling, Stephanie enjoys connecting with the world’s top executives to share their secrets to business success. Curious what she’s uncovered? Read more at TheCMO.

Vibhu Satpaul of Saffron Edge: 5 Ways to Use Marketing Automation to Improve Team Efficiencies was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Lead Scoring and Lifecycle — Again with marketing automation, we have the built-in capability of moving leads/contacts into specific journeys or directly to sales. All of that is fueled by aligning your marketing automation to your businesses’ sales funnel, and specifically the important stages in the sales cycle, and having the automation take control of your digital marketing efforts. It’s a win-win for marketing and sales, since marketing can focus on content creation, event-planning,and optimization while the automation takes care of “keeping the lights on”. Sales also gets the opportunity to focus on the marketing-generated leads that are the most likely to buy.

In the current era of rapid technological advancements, marketing automation has become a fundamental asset to any business. It has the potential to not only streamline operations, but also to significantly boost team efficiencies. As we explore its various applications, we would like to highlight how it can transform day-to-day tasks, foster innovation, and ultimately enhance performance. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Derek Boshkov.

Derek Boshkov is a Senior MarTech Consultant at Demand Spring. Derek has a deep ability to connect business strategy with MarTech requirements, and an extensive knowledge of the MarTech ecosystem and how to leverage it to drive advanced, highly personalized multichannel strategies.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?

Coming from a multicultural family, I went into school thinking I was made to be a Canadian diplomat (since I survived years of negotiating peace treaties with my two younger sisters and our many cousins).

Although I completed my MA in International Relations, I realized that my true passion was in problem-solving, technology, and story-telling. As a result, I was introduced to the wonderful team at Oracle Marketing Cloud (Eloqua), and spent a number of years there as a technical specialist and SME of CRM integrations, based in the Toronto office.

After Oracle, I split the next 6 years working as a digital marketing consultant. I joined Forrester, heading their Marketing Automation function, and then went to Achievers, where I was in charge of the MarTech stack. Since then, I have been working at Demand Spring, bringing all of my MarTech and strategy experience to lead the MarTech consulting team here.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I have been lucky enough to work for a number of great managers throughout my career. I have learned key lessons from all of them, whether it was how to lead, or how to show the business your worth. I’m not one to ask for help, but I learned that there are many elements of work that are hard to pick up without someone showing you the way.

I was lucky to work for a manager who believed in me and my skills when I was at Forrester. He spent a lot of time showing me the ropes — how to conduct myself, how to achieve consensus, and to build rapport. I think in the beginning, he believed in me more than I believed in myself, but it’s because of him that I even tried to take the next step of my career and think of myself as more than a technical expert, but as an entrepreneur. He now happens to be the CEO here at Demand Spring, so it has been amazing to see how our working relationship has evolved over time.

Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?

1. Mental Toughness/Endurance — All of my years playing sports as a kid and into my teens has made me comfortable with failure and rejection. Sometimes there will be other variables that will affect the outcome of your endeavors, no matter how hard you try. Maximize the things you have control over, and let the rest fall as it may, worrying about that does no good to anyone! Also, try to have some fun along the way, it helps!
2. Appreciation — For those of us who started from the bottom, this might be easier, but you know things could always be tougher compared to where you are right now. Be grateful! It took all the hard work in your life to get to this point, now look back, feel your accomplishments, and be proud of them! Spend time with family/friends who surround you with love — this helps with #1 above!
3. Problem-solving skills — Whenever I chat with a mentee or younger colleague, I always advise them to come to the table with solutions, not problems. No matter how stuck you feel, your manager will appreciate you coming with whatever solution you could come up with, and then having them help you navigate through these scenarios, rather than you simply putting your hands up when things get tough. It shows a level of integrity and care about the work that you do. Your manager will notice this, and help propel you forward, since this is the type of help that makes their jobs easier too.

Which skills are you still trying to grow now?

These days since I am leading a team and selling Demand Spring’s services, I am always trying to get better at public speaking, networking, events, producing content, etc. I have spent most of my career on the marketing and ops side. I never had a chance to use these skills, but they are absolutely necessary if you want to thrive in your career! Learn how to sell your skills!

Let’s talk about marketing automation. What impact has marketing automation had on streamlining and enhancing your team’s operations, KPIs, and overall efficiency?

Marketing automation has helped us scale and keep track of our lead/sales funnel, and has helped us orchestrate our campaigns. However I have really seen the magic of marketing automation work for our clients. I always tell them that marketing automation needs to be a magic box that enters every lead/contact into a journey with the right messaging at the right time, regardless of where they come from. So in addition to the traditional lead gen tactics that marketing automation has always been able to help scale, I have started building customer lifecycle journeys for our clients, so they can also tend to their customers post-sales, and not just when it’s time for renewal. It’s amazing the different ways you can use these tools for your various business segments, you just need some creativity!

What’s your favorite marketing automation tool and way in which to use it?

One of my favorite marketing automation tools is LeanData. Since I come from a marketing ops background, I have been able to use tools like LeanData or the ZoomInfo suite to have ultimate control and visibility over the lead-sales funnel. Whether it is to enrich data, match lead to account, route leads, auto-convert to contacts, etc. these functions serve to overcome the gaps that traditional lead and contact based tools have inherently.

My second favorite would be Marketo Measure (Bizible). If you give me LeanData and Bizible, I can build you something nice!

Ensuring a personalized customer experience is crucial in today’s marketing landscape. How do you balance automation while maintaining a human touch?

Personalization, dynamic content, and accurate segmentation are becoming more and more important in digital marketing, especially now with AI and machine learning being able to step in and help scale a more personalized journey.

I am seeing B2B companies adopting B2C-style personalization in an effort to create a hyper-personalized customer experience. No matter the level of AI personalization capability in your tech stack, I always recommend that your automated journeys have milestones (either time-based, or engagement-based) that will signal to your marketing/sales/customer success team when it is time for a human touch to occur. A phone call from a rep will go a long way in a scenario where the customer is unhappy, or struggling to use your product, but automation can handle other areas of the journey.

Data is also a cornerstone of effective marketing automation. How do you utilize data-driven insights to continuously refine and optimize your automated campaigns?

It’s interesting because these days I am noticing many marketing teams that are putting less weight behind the typical vanity metrics in campaigns, since engagement such as opens and clicks are becoming increasingly harder to track with the rise of privacy protection offered by big companies like Apple and Google. As a result, the capability to track full-funnel metrics and attribution has always been a stronger basis of reporting on campaign success. When you can put a dollar amount on generated business in your campaigns, it makes your marketing team stand taller, and gives them a seat at the table when big business decisions need to be made. There are many tools now in addition to Bizible, CaliberMind, etc. that are building this type of functionality. It is becoming increasingly important.

As AI and machine learning become more prominent, how have you integrated these technologies to not only automate tasks but also to provide predictive insights?

I am very excited about the capabilities of AI and machine learning as a “grand orchestrator” of the customer experience. I have spent many years working with marketing teams that have struggled to ensure that messaging, channels, and expectations of customers throughout the journey were being maintained by marketing, sales, and customer success, and I believe that some of this AI functionality will make it easier to coordinate. I imagine the future of work being coordinated by predictive models generated through AI and machine learning of your companies’ historical performance. One would simply turn on their laptop, and have their tasks for the day planned out (Call client A, Meet with client B for lunch, prospect on LinkedIn to this list of people, here are three examples of messaging to use, etc.). So, the automation of tasks is great, but linking this to predictive insights based on research that no human would be able to perform in a reasonable amount of time, is where AI really becomes an incredible tool.

What strategies have you found most effective in integrating marketing automation with other departments, such as sales or customer service, to create a cohesive and efficient end-to-end customer experience?

Marketing automation has the power to bring teams together, and I have seen this work when it powers a shared visibility on reporting and KPIs. This is essential for teams to start working together and getting behind a new technology that spans multiple departments. Once the teams can refer to the same reporting, and share the same scoreboard, you can complement this with meetings that review how the automated journeys are working, and optimizing those points of automated vs. human touch.

Implementing marketing automation can come with a certain degree of change management. What tips do you have for introducing a new tool or process to a pre-existing team?

Try to achieve buy-in from the beginning. Get IT, sales and customer success excited about the marketing intelligence they’ll be able to use, and how it can help them in their day-to-day. Identify champions on these teams that can spend extra time with you in formulating what this tool will do for their departments before you release it to the broader team. Ensure you are keeping these teams up to date on progress, and pulling them in for brainstorming the strategy around these tools. Again, if this can support a shared reporting environment, and can help the teams focus on the same goals, life becomes easier managing through this type of change.

I have seen teams implement tools by themselves, and without including these other teams in the decision and implementation process they typically silo themself and push others away, unless it is coming from a C-level mandate. It is much easier if you can push the change through inclusively and organically.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are 5 Ways to Use Marketing Automation to Improve Team Efficiencies? Please share a story or example for each.

1. Automated Email Marketing at Scale — Segment your database based on the way you go-to-market and build out hyper-personalized journeys for each segment. More than just the traditional lead-gen, think about your customer journeys, partner journeys, journeys for free trial sign-ups, etc.

This past year we designed and implemented a customer onboarding journey in Marketo using its nurture and content stream capabilities. We designed the strategy behind the customer journey around Gartner’s hype cycle for emerging tech (since we were working with a tech vendor). We broke down each of the stages and designed content around each stage. This was feeding into the idea that the customer would be better supported throughout the journey after purchase. This was also bouncing back-and-forth between automated touches pointing to reference materials and the support community, to an alert for a call to come from the customer success team.

2. Lead Scoring and Lifecycle — Again with marketing automation, we have the built-in capability of moving leads/contacts into specific journeys or directly to sales. All of that is fueled by aligning your marketing automation to your businesses’ sales funnel, and specifically the important stages in the sales cycle, and having the automation take control of your digital marketing efforts. It’s a win-win for marketing and sales, since marketing can focus on content creation, event-planning,and optimization while the automation takes care of “keeping the lights on”. Sales also gets the opportunity to focus on the marketing-generated leads that are the most likely to buy.

This element is important with marketing automation, as we have helped clients configure this in a way to easily spot where the breakdowns tend to occur in the sales funnel. Is it between the hand-off from marketing to sales? Does it seem to be a problem where meetings should be booked? Do we experience a slow down in opportunity progression? What a great data-driven perspective to have of your business.

3. Reporting and Analytics — In addition to my point above, marketing automation allows for the business to make data-driven decisions based on the amazing reporting capabilities that these tools have built in. So, as I mentioned above, there is capability to track what I call the plumbing metrics, lifecycle stage volume, velocity, and drop-off, as well as keeping track of the percentage of leads that are recycled and disqualified to track overall lead quality. Then you have email, website, and overall campaign engagement tracking built-in. These reports can help every area within your marketing department, from the vanity metrics (important for campaign managers, email specialists, and social media marketers), to ROI (important for direct-level+).

Another component here is that this reporting can be brought over to other tools in your MarTech stack. And so, when we implement the tool, we ensure the data is being brought into your existing reporting, whether it’s all in your CRM, or you’re using a tool like Domo or Tableau, you are able to feed this data in.

4. Digital Marketing for Events and Webinars — Marketing automation is more than just email marketing, and we sometimes see clients paying for marketing automation but only using it as an email tool. With events and campaign tracking, marketing automation can speed up your time-to-market for events and webinars. Working on the look and feel of your email and landing page templates during implementation can set you up so that the campaign elements for launching an event (invite, registration, reminder emails, attended and no-show follow ups, etc.) are all ready to go, waiting for you to update the copy and then select the send times.

We currently work with a client who is able to launch 2–3 webinars a week by working with us to automate their webinar campaign creation process. This marketing team generates a lot of buzz in their industry!

5. Integration to the MarTech stack — These marketing automation platforms are very customizable — to the point where there are a number of different ways to achieve a certain functionality. As a result, they can complement your MarTech stack very nicely. Most of the integrations you’ll need are fairly easy to configure (log in name and password), although some will take extra work. However, taking advantage of the marketing intelligence that these tools can generate is easy, no matter what tools you need to leverage this data in.

Earlier this year, we worked with one of our clients to optimize a Marketo instance so it could integrate with Drift, 6Sense, Sendoso, and ZoomInfo. Then we needed to have all of these campaign metrics and lead scoring appear in Salesforce. This resulted in a lead score that took advantage of all the first party data these other tools were capturing, plus third-party intent to provide an accurate level of engagement to the sales team to follow up with. We saw improvements in conversions, a lower number of recycled or disqualified leads, and better alignment between marketing and sales.

Can you share a story about a challenge you faced with marketing automation, and how you overcame it?

I once worked at a company where there was a massive misalignment between marketing and sales. Marketing was spending money on bringing new leads into the system, and when they were sent to sales, they were ignored. Sales believed that the leads that marketing was generating were not worth their time.

When I was brought in here to solve this problem as a Marketing Operations Manager, I approached it in three ways:

1. I onboarded Marketo Measure (Formerly Bizible), and implemented this tool alongside the Marketo and SFDC instance so we could show ROI as a dollar figure on the leads and engagement we were generating, plus the money we were spending on these leads.
2. I built out dashboards in SFDC (since the C-level used SFDC as their main source of reporting) that showed campaign and channel successes alongside the ROI so visibility was easy to achieve
3. I built out reporting in that dashboard that showed us the number of MQLs that were not reached out to within the previously agreed upon SLA. This report was key as we had our sales ops team able to push the sales team to address the issue (either lack of focus, or maybe we need more SDR/BDR help, etc.).

With these elements we were able to move the sales team from the top-down, since leadership did not like to see the money we were spending on leads and how many of these leads were simply ignored. It forced process change.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I’m not sure of a movement per se, but I always found that forgiving and showing care/compassion is how you can build meaningful and long-lasting relationships with people. Once you realize that most people only want the same things you’re looking for (a roof overhead, food on the table, the ability to care for family and friends, a decent-paying job) then you can empathize with people better.

If someone rubs you the wrong way, it could be because of so many things that they are going through, and we really don’t have any clue what it could be at that moment. The gut reaction is to perhaps act defensively, and/or aggressively, which rarely produces good results. Instead, when you show some compassion and understanding, people tend to show you respect over time — whether in the workplace, or at home — since you care about them as a person, and not as their actions in one moment. It has worked for me time and time again in my life.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About The Interviewer: Stephanie Hood is the Editor of The CMO and holds vast marketing experience in industries spanning media, publishing, tech, fashion and travel/tourism. Throughout her career, she has led editorial and marketing teams and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, consistently turning six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. With a passion for storytelling, Stephanie enjoys connecting with the world’s top executives to share their secrets to business success. Curious what she’s uncovered? Read more at TheCMO.

Derek Boshkov of Demand Spring: 5 Ways to Use Marketing Automation to Improve Team Efficiencies was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Enhanced Customer Segmentation: Marketing automation allows for detailed customer segmentation based on their interactions and preferences. We created segments for users based on their activity on our platform, which enabled us to send more targeted campaigns, resulting in a 25% higher open rate for our emails.

In the current era of rapid technological advancements, marketing automation has become a fundamental asset to any business. It has the potential to not only streamline operations, but also to significantly boost team efficiencies. As we explore its various applications, we would like to highlight how it can transform day-to-day tasks, foster innovation, and ultimately enhance performance. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Rumiantsau.

Michael Rumiantsau is the CEO of Narrative BI. Previously, he cofounded FriendlyData, led it as CEO, and sold it to ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW). He has provided early funding and advice for dozens of startups. He is an investor at Founders.ai, a Silicon Valley startup platform focused on the Future of Work. He is also listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?

I appreciate the opportunity to share a bit about myself. I spent all my career making data more available and accessible for businesses.

My journey in the world of startups began with a deep interest in how technology intersects with everyday business challenges. This led me to cofound FriendlyData, a venture that was later acquired by ServiceNow, providing me with invaluable experience in scaling a tech company and understanding the nuances of user-centric design. Being recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 was a rewarding milestone that acknowledged our innovative approach in a competitive tech landscape.

After the acquisition, I leveraged my experiences to provide early funding and advice to numerous startups through Founders.ai.

These experiences were instrumental in founding Narrative BI, where our focus is to revolutionize how growth teams interact with data, making it not just accessible but actionable through AI-driven narratives.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Absolutely, the path to success is seldom a solitary journey. One individual I’m particularly grateful for is Marvin Liao, a former partner at 500 Startups. Marvin was instrumental during my early entrepreneurial days. Despite the challenges I faced as an immigrant with a noticeable accent, Marvin looked beyond that to see the potential in my ideas and my commitment to innovation.

He believed in the substance of what I was building, and his support was not just motivational but pivotal, as it helped open doors and build the networks necessary for my ventures to flourish. Marvin’s mentorship was a testament to the fact that in the startup world, it’s the strength of your vision and your willingness to persevere that ultimately define your success. His guidance helped me navigate through the complexities of Silicon Valley’s ecosystem, and for that, I am deeply appreciative.

Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?

Certainly, three core strengths have been particularly pivotal in my journey:

1. Curiosity: My innate desire to understand and explore the intricacies of technology and human interaction with it has been the cornerstone of my career. This curiosity drove me to identify gaps in the market and create solutions like Narrative BI. To foster this within oneself, I recommend cultivating a habit of asking questions, seeking out new knowledge, and embracing the unfamiliar. Stay informed about industry trends, and don’t be afraid to dive deep into complex topics.
2. Resilience: The startup path is replete with challenges. Resilience has helped me to persevere through setbacks, like navigating the complexities of being an immigrant founder and handling the pressures of high-stakes negotiations. Building resilience involves stepping out of your comfort zone regularly, learning from failures without letting them define you, and maintaining a growth mindset.
3. Hard Work: Success in entrepreneurship is heavily reliant on the willingness to put in the effort and hours required to transform an idea into reality. This involves not only the execution of day-to-day tasks but also the dedication to continuous learning and adaptation. Others can cultivate a strong work ethic by setting clear, actionable goals, maintaining discipline, and committing to excellence in all aspects of their work. It’s about consistency, not just bursts of effort, and ensuring that every task, no matter how small, is done to the best of one’s ability.

Which skills are you still trying to grow now?

There are two skills I am actively working to develop further:

Empathy: As Narrative BI grows, I’m continually learning the importance of empathy in leadership. Understanding the perspectives and challenges of my team enables me to support them better and lead with compassion. Empathy strengthens company culture and drives better problem-solving. I’m honing this skill by actively listening, engaging in open dialogue with my team, and putting myself in their shoes to understand their experiences and viewpoints.

Delegation: As a founder, it’s often tempting to involve myself in every aspect of the business. However, I recognize that effective delegation is crucial for scalability and allows me to focus on strategy and growth. I am learning to trust my team with more responsibilities and to let go of the reins in certain areas of the business. This skill is being developed by identifying key talents within my team, providing the right training, and communicating clear expectations to ensure they feel empowered to take the lead on tasks and decisions.

Let’s talk about marketing automation. What impact has marketing automation had on streamlining and enhancing your team’s operations, KPIs, and overall efficiency?

Marketing automation has been transformative for Narrative BI, significantly enhancing our operational efficiency and effectiveness in several ways:

1. Enhanced Lead Management: By automating lead capture and segmentation, we’ve improved our response times and personalized our communications at scale. This has led to better engagement rates and a higher conversion of leads to active opportunities, positively impacting our KPIs related to customer acquisition.
2. Data-Driven Decisions: Automation tools integrated with our analytics platform enable us to make data-driven decisions swiftly. We can track campaign performance in real-time, adjust our strategies accordingly, and allocate resources to the most effective channels, enhancing our ROI.
3. Operational Efficiency: Routine tasks such as data entry, report generation, and even complex analytical tasks are automated, freeing our team to focus on more strategic and creative initiatives. This shift has not only improved our productivity but also allowed us to maintain a lean operational model, which is crucial for a growing company.
4. Measurement and Optimization: Finally, automation provides us with the tools to measure our marketing activities’ effectiveness continuously and optimize them. We can test different approaches, iterate quickly, and scale successful tactics, ensuring that our marketing operations are always aligned with our business goals.

In summary, marketing automation is not just a facilitator for growth but a catalyst that allows us to operate more effectively, stay agile, and maintain a competitive edge in the market.

What’s your favorite marketing automation tool and way in which to use it?

My favorite marketing automation tool is HubSpot because of its all-in-one capabilities that streamline our marketing efforts at Narrative BI.

We use HubSpot mainly for:

1. Email Campaigns: Automating drip email campaigns that respond to user actions, keeping our communication relevant and timely.
2. Lead Scoring: Prioritizing leads for the sales team through HubSpot’s scoring system based on user engagement and behavior.
3. Analytics: Utilizing HubSpot’s analytics for evaluating campaign performance and optimizing our marketing strategies.

Overall, HubSpot enhances our efficiency and helps us maintain a personalized approach to customer engagement.

Ensuring a personalized customer experience is crucial in today’s marketing landscape. How do you balance automation while maintaining a human touch?

To ensure a personalized customer experience while leveraging automation, we’ve set up a system where automation serves as an alert mechanism for human intervention. Automated triggers are set to notify me when a customer meets certain criteria indicating they may need attention. This signal prompts me to personally review their account in detail, allowing me to send a carefully crafted, personalized message that speaks directly to their experience and needs.

Data is also a cornerstone of effective marketing automation. How do you utilize data-driven insights to continuously refine and optimize your automated campaigns?

Data-driven insights are the compass that guides our marketing automation at Narrative BI. We collect vast amounts of data from various touchpoints, which provide us with a granular view of customer behaviors, preferences, and interactions. We then apply these insights in several ways to refine our automated campaigns.

For starters, we segment our audiences with precision, ensuring that the right messages reach the right people at the right time. Moreover, A/B testing is an integral part of our process. By testing different variables in our campaigns, we can understand what resonates best with our audience. Lastly, we monitor KPIs closely to measure the success of our campaigns, which in turn, influence future strategies.

This cyclical process ensures our marketing efforts are not only effective but also constantly evolving with the ever-changing digital landscape.

As AI and machine learning become more prominent, how have you integrated these technologies to not only automate tasks but also to provide predictive insights?

At Narrative BI, we’re not just participants in the AI revolution; we’re actively shaping it by leveraging our own product. Our platform is at the heart of our operations, integrating AI and machine learning to transcend traditional task automation. It’s about predictive intelligence — our system doesn’t just follow scripts, it anticipates needs.

By feeding our AI with a diverse array of data sources, we empower it to identify patterns and trends that might elude human analysis. It’s this capability that enables us to not only react to current customer behaviors but also to predict future actions. This predictive insight is invaluable, allowing us to proactively adjust our strategies, personalize our communication, and optimize our campaigns in ways that are most likely to resonate with our target audiences.

In essence, we’re using Narrative BI to write the future of our company’s marketing narrative, ensuring that we’re always one step ahead in a rapidly evolving digital ecosystem.

What strategies have you found most effective in integrating marketing automation with other departments, such as sales or customer service, to create a cohesive and efficient end-to-end customer experience?

To integrate marketing automation across departments effectively, we focus on aligning goals and fostering open communication to ensure a seamless customer journey. Sales and customer service have access to real-time data from marketing, enabling quick and informed responses. Automated alerts notify sales of ready leads, while customer service uses behavioral data for personalized support.

Implementing marketing automation can come with a certain degree of change management. What tips do you have for introducing a new tool or process to a pre-existing team?

When introducing a new marketing automation tool to an existing team, it’s essential to start with clear communication about its benefits and how it will ease their workload. Provide comprehensive training and encourage an open dialogue for feedback and questions. Gradually phase the tool into daily operations, allowing the team to adapt at a comfortable pace. Support them throughout the process to ensure a smooth transition.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are 5 Ways to Use Marketing Automation to Improve Team Efficiencies? Please share a story or example for each.

1 . Lead Scoring and Prioritization: Automation can evaluate leads based on engagement and behavior, scoring them so that your team can focus on those most likely to convert. For instance, we had a campaign where leads were scored based on their interaction with our content. The sales team only worked on high-scoring leads, which improved conversion rates by 20%.

2 . Streamlined Communication: Automated workflows can trigger personalized emails based on customer actions, ensuring timely and relevant communication. We used this to nurture leads by sending tailored content, which led to a 30% increase in our engagement rates.

3 . Efficient Ad Campaign Management: AI-driven automation tools can optimize advertising campaigns in real time. We once set up an ad campaign that automatically adjusted its bidding strategy based on conversion data, leading to a 15% decrease in acquisition costs.

4 . Automated Reporting: By automating the data collection and reporting process, teams can quickly access performance metrics. We implemented a dashboard that automatically updates with real-time data, saving hours of manual work each week and allowing for quicker strategic decisions.

5 . Enhanced Customer Segmentation: Marketing automation allows for detailed customer segmentation based on their interactions and preferences. We created segments for users based on their activity on our platform, which enabled us to send more targeted campaigns, resulting in a 25% higher open rate for our emails.

Can you share a story about a challenge you faced with marketing automation, and how you overcame it?

We once faced a challenge when a new automation tool sent advanced content to early-stage users, leading to confusion and reduced engagement. To solve this, we halted the automated emails and meticulously realigned our triggers with the appropriate stages of the customer journey. After careful testing and adjustments, we resumed the campaigns with improved targeting, which restored and even enhanced user engagement. This taught us the critical importance of continuous monitoring and testing in marketing automation

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

If I could inspire a movement, it would be centered around “Data Empowerment for All.” This initiative would aim to democratize access to data analytics and insights, enabling individuals and communities around the world to make informed decisions that could improve their lives.

The movement would focus on providing education and tools to people from all backgrounds, allowing them to understand and harness data in ways that are most meaningful to them — whether that’s small businesses optimizing operations, local governments allocating resources more effectively, or individuals managing their finances better.

By empowering people with data, they can drive positive change in their communities, innovate in ways that are locally relevant, and create opportunities that align with their values and needs. It’s about turning data into actionable narratives that can lead to real-world impact. This could trigger a wave of grassroots innovation and growth, leading to widespread societal benefits.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

What is the most valuable marketing software in your tech stack? Hubspot, a holistic solution that combines email marketing, CRM, and marketing automation.

What other company or CMO are you admiring right now? I admire Sarah Franklin, the CMO of Salesforce, for her transformative and community-driven marketing approach.

What single piece of advice would you give to aspiring CMOs? Stay adaptable and customer-focused.

What are you reading right now? Currently delving into ‘Alchemy’ by Rory Sutherland, exploring the surprising power of ideas that don’t make sense.

What product, tool, or service do you wish existed? A button that orders pizza every time a marketer says “synergy” during a meeting :)

About The Interviewer: Stephanie Hood is the Editor of The CMO and holds vast marketing experience in industries spanning media, publishing, tech, fashion and travel/tourism. Throughout her career, she has led editorial and marketing teams and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, consistently turning six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. With a passion for storytelling, Stephanie enjoys connecting with the world’s top executives to share their secrets to business success. Curious what she’s uncovered? Read more at TheCMO.

Michael Rumiantsau of Narrative BI: 5 Ways to Use Marketing Automation to Improve Team Efficiencies was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Iterate — If what you’re working on is better than what’s live, push your changes live. Don’t wait for perfection. That will never happen. Shoot for 1% improvement/movement to your goal across the entire organization. After that, keep pushing out the 1% improvements over and over again. This is what’s meant by “growth marketing” — you’re constantly in a state of learning. This is how organizations leapfrog the competition. It’s not often by a huge transformation. It’s more often a matter of small, constant, improvements.

The B2B marketing landscape is a complex and evolving space, with its unique challenges and opportunities. Navigating it effectively requires well-thought-out strategies and insightful tactics. With a myriad of digital channels available, what are the best ways to connect, engage, and convert potential business clients? As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle Tresemer.

Michelle Tresemer, a seasoned fractional CMO, pioneered a framework used by companies to optimize marketing for consistent results and minimize wasteful spending. Over the past two decades, she has collaborated with over 130 clients around the world. She is currently nearing completion of her first doctorate degree.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?

As a young child, my dolls didn’t have tea parties. They had board meetings. I’m sure my mother thought I was a bit weird when she found me making little briefcases and power suits for my dolls. As I got older, I tested out all sorts of ways to make money. From designing holiday cards and bookmarks, to convincing my brothers to pay me to put away their laundry and wash their cars, I saw opportunity everywhere. I loved business. I loved creating products and service packages. Aside from that, I also adored gaming and was an early adopter of MMORPGs even with dial-up and before MMORPG was a thing. In short, I am a multipotentialite nerd. There are very few things that do not interest me. Marketing is a perfect career choice for me because I get to work with clients in all sorts of industries; every challenge is unique. Marketing is also part creative and part analytical. I find learning about the latest marketing tech thrilling, as well as talking about communicating through brand messaging. I’m comfortable coding websites just as much as building a content strategy. I am a marketing generalist through and through. Despite the cliché, I am a lifelong learner; I’m currently pursuing my Doctorate in Organizational Change and Leadership from University of Southern California.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Before meeting Suzanne Longstreet, I had no idea how much my mindset was holding me back in business and life. People often talk about mindset as a woo-woo psychological hack. I dismissed the concept at first. But then I met Suzanne in a business coaching group a few years back and she explained the neuroscience behind this ethereal “mindset” concept. It made complete sense to me and unlocked a reservoir of energy, enthusiasm, and hope for the future. Most of my fears melted away and I’m now able to put myself out there in an authentic way that feels good. Hiding my personality wasn’t just exhausting, it was also hurting my business. Being a business owner challenges your self-confidence and self-efficacy in ways that only other entrepreneurs would understand. Suzanne helped me strengthen those weak skills.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Where should I go?” -Alice.

“That depends on where you want to end up.” — The Cheshire Cat.

― Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass

I’m always trying to divide my energy between being a wife, mother, business owner, daughter, thought leader, creator, and more. We all divide our energy to some extent. We each have power and control in our lives and businesses, but the trick is putting all our energy into a single path. When it comes to business, the more we can focus our resources on an end goal, the more progress we’ll make. That is one of the hardest things for me, and my clients, to do — choose what that end goal should look like. Sometimes it’s hard to admit to ourselves what we really want. But as soon as we accept it, everything starts to align and happen. Some people call this a vision board, some call it manifesting. I call it living a strategic life, or living your best life, and a life with purpose.

Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?

The first is curiosity. At some point as we grow up, we start to lose our sense of curiosity. As children, we find fascination and beauty in anything from a plant to a snail to a rock. We ask a million questions about each one and soak in the information. As an adult, however, it’s harder to set aside distractions to focus intently on the small things. But I have found that it is the small things that bring the most joy. I lost my ability to pay attention to these little wonders for a long time until I took up photography as a hobby. Looking at the world through a camera helps focus my energy on being present and appreciating a slice of the world at a given time. Photography adds a tremendous perspective to how I approach life.

The second is spunk. Born with weird wiring, I always desire to try new things. Even if it is hard. I have no expectations for succeeding, I simply love trying things for the sake of trying them. Whether that’s taking snowboarding lessons at 35 years old, auditing a computer science course, learning to paint, or writing a children’s book. For me, the journey is the adventure. It allows me the flexibility to change course without a lot of emotional baggage attached. As you can imagine, this is helpful as a business owner.

Lastly, I’m tech savvy. Perhaps a more tactical skill is the ability to understand new tech quickly. I approach everything as a new tool that I get to learn how to use. This skill also ties into my curiosity. If I’m learning a brand-new CRM system, I want to explore and see what each of the buttons and fields do. I’ve worked with innumerable people who don’t approach tech with this mindset. Because of that, tech is a struggle for them. Tech is iterative and changes all the time. It will never be perfect, and I don’t expect it to be. I always recommend that if you get the opportunity to try some new tech, don’t take a tutorial and just start clicking around. Explore for yourself. Get comfortable with where things are. This type of discovery makes a huge difference in the learning curve.

Which skills are you still trying to grow now?

I’m currently working toward completion of my first doctorate degree. Soon I will earn my Doctorate in Organizational Change and Leadership from University of Southern California (USC). I’m fascinated by how change happens. The neuroscience behind leadership and how company culture affects innovation captivates me. Discovering how organizations change challenges me to understand human behavior in a deep and meaningful way. For example, why people do what they do in an organizational structure is a game changer for how I approach my consulting. I am now figuring out how to incorporate those theoretical frameworks into my own programs. I can provide a client the most perfect marketing strategy ever made, but if they don’t know how to execute it, aren’t motivated to execute it, or they simply don’t have the organizational infrastructure to see it through, then even the best strategy will fail.

Let’s talk about B2B marketing. Can you share some insights into how you perceive the current landscape of B2B marketing?

Despite the media attention on the emergence of AI, I’m seeing a revival of person-to-person business. I don’t know if people are tired of the glitz and glamor of fancy marketing campaigns, but it seems that the more human relationships are paying off. It’s time to remember that business is done by people. While it’s business-to-business, it’s also human-to-human.

How have recent market trends and changes influenced your approach to outperforming competitors?

Inflation and business deals that hinge on fed announcements opened my eyes to human connection. Nothing can replace authentic human relationships. Real relationships and authentic interactions ease fears and encourage long term partnerships. In times of uncertainty, it’s critical to nurture relationships. The days of churning and burning B2B clients is over. For me, it’s time to refocus on loyalty and relationships. This means concentrating on the bottom of the funnel in the customer journey and all the way through the customer experience. Marketing can absolutely be involved in the entire customer journey. Oftentimes the marketing department will have creative ideas on how to continue to delight customers and build loyalty. Not only are these ideas new and refreshing, they also help develop that vital relationship piece.

B2B buying cycles can often be lengthy and complex. How do you maintain engagement and nurture leads throughout the various stages of the buyer’s journey?

Easy. I put the prospect at the center of discussions. I discover what they need right now. I ask what they struggle with in their day-to-day lives. Doing so means ditching the cookie cutter funnels and caring about the prospects. I put on my empathy hat and serve!

Personalization is gaining prominence in B2B marketing. What are some ways marketers can effectively leverage data to deliver personalized experiences?

The most important step is to make caring part of the company culture. This change in culture needs to come from leadership. And when I say caring culture, I’m not talking about trying to prove someone else’s feelings. The truth is in the data. Data can provide insights on how you show that you care.

Here’s what I mean. When I receive cookie cutter emails, it is clear to me that the salesperson never looked me up and has no idea who I am. They don’t even know how or why I’m struggling. That is not caring culture. It’s hard to remember that the number of leads you have represent actual humans. Sometimes you must take that list, no matter how big it is, and start looking at every single experience. Once you go through them one at a time, you’ll discover what questions to ask of your dataset.

That’s the fun part of data, you must know what to ask. Data is all about asking the right questions. Caring culture is determining what your leads need based on those answers, and then delivering upon those needs.

ABM has also gained traction for its personalized approach to targeting high-value accounts. What advice would you give to fellow B2B marketers looking to adopt this strategy?

Again, having a culture of caring goes a long way. One where you genuinely care about your prospect and understanding their specific needs. Through this lens, it’s much easier to brainstorm meaningful ways to engage with the decision makers, stakeholders, etc..

ABM involves a lot of creativity. You want to stand out. You can accomplish this by treating each prospective company in a unique way. Trying to build cookie cutter approaches to ABM is a mistake. You must remember that B2B is also person-to-person. You’re going to have a champion contact at your target company — don’t dismiss them and ask to talk to the decision-maker right away. How about work with the champion to pitch the solution together? Sometimes we just get in our own way to “make the sale” and end up angering people in the process.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are 5 Tips for Your B2B Marketing Strategy to Help You Beat Competitors? Please share a story or example for each.

1 . Decide what you really, really want.

What you really want will determine the path you need to take to get there. If you want to get acquired by Microsoft, that means a very different marketing strategy than if you plan on leaving the company to your grandkids. I’m astounded that my number one challenge with clients is getting leadership to agree on what they really want. If you love language like I do, look up the etymology of the word “decide.” It means to cut off everything that’s not important. For businesses, this means taking an honest look at your products, your people, your finances, etc., and cutting out everything that isn’t important to help you reach your goal. The companies I see struggling year after year refuse to draw a line in the sand. They talk about the same issues they were talking about five years ago.

2 . Commit to the path. Burn the ships.

Cortés landed in Mexico in 1519 and burned the ships to truly commit to his mission. While that might be a bit drastic, the concept holds true. Once you have decided what you want, it’s time to align your actions to that path. This means being unapologetic about saying “no” to things that aren’t aligned. More importantly, and more difficult, is shutting down existing programs that are no longer aligned. My business coach would always tell me that “the team that got you here is not the team that will get you there.” When it comes to true commitment to your goal, you will likely have to let some people go. The skills you need might be different than what you have on staff. I’ve seen companies try to hold on to staff for years even though they know it’s the wrong skillset. The employee knows it. Leadership knows it. Yet they still don’t make the commitment to their goals.

3 . Focus.

As a business owner, I know how tempting it is to take a side quest. This is where a good integrator or COO comes in handy. What has helped me over the years is to redefine the word “strategy.” Think of it this way for everything that you do: is there a reason to do it? Here’s what I mean. I have seen companies make some odd decisions for questionable reasons. Maybe it’s because a niece who took a marketing class in college made a comment at a BBQ. Or, one I hear more frequently, someone from the leadership “met a guy” at a networking event that had an opinion about something. I’ve seen entire marketing programs shift because of this exact example…more than once. Keep your focus on your goal and don’t get distracted by random comments or ideas. I have a “parking garage” file where I put all the side quest ideas in order to limit distractions.

4 . Act.

Take intentional steps on the campaigns, tactics, and programs that will get you closer to your goal…the thing you really, really want. For every action, ask yourself how it’s going to contribute to getting you closer to your goal. Again, the goal needs to be the center of attention. In larger organizations that do a poor job of communicating the company goal down to the execution teams, things get tricky. The person writing the blog posts should know what the goal is so they can understand how they can use their skill to best contribute to it. Think about how you ask your execution specialists for tasks. Do you say, “write me a blog post about XYZ” or do you ask, “how can we use content marketing to reach XYZ objective?” Actions speak louder than words, so make sure your actions are intentional.

5 . Iterate.

If what you’re working on is better than what’s live, push your changes live. Don’t wait for perfection. That will never happen. Shoot for 1% improvement/movement to your goal across the entire organization. After that, keep pushing out the 1% improvements over and over again. This is what’s meant by “growth marketing” — you’re constantly in a state of learning. This is how organizations leapfrog the competition. It’s not often by a huge transformation. It’s more often a matter of small, constant, improvements.

How do you utilize data or AI to refine your B2B marketing approach, and what tools have been particularly impactful in gaining a competitive advantage?

I’ve recently started using AI to better understand the pain points of different target audiences. For example, I had a SaaS client that was drafting a landing page for a new vertical and we leveraged ChatGPT to help understand the primary pain points for the industry. We planned on testing out that messaging, but it gave us a place to start for consideration. I find AI tools invaluable for helping brainstorm ideas. It will often suggest something I hadn’t even thought about.

Which digital channels have you found most effective in reaching your target audience, and how do you optimize your presence across these channels to outshine competitors?

It’s not about individual digital channels. It’s about how a prospect experiences the brand across channels. Remarketing and retargeting work well when planned strategically to reinforce value propositions and credibility. But again, the kinds of content distributed across the channels is way more important than the channels used. Believe it or not, consistency is incredibly difficult to do. I tell my clients that they’ll know when they are finally starting to be consistent when they wake up utterly sick of their messaging. Consistency of quality, useful information works the best. Having a singular position in the marketplace and making sure people receive the same message no matter how they experience the brand, that’s marketing at its best.

Are there any underrated skills or qualities that you encourage others not to overlook?

Technical skills for marketers are critical. I encourage all marketers, no matter what their specialization, to learn the basics of html, CSS, computer science, and CRMs. Now with the popularity of AI, understanding how machine learning works is beneficial as well. Hands down, the best marketers I know understand how technology leverages their specialty and it gives them a fantastic edge. For that reason, if I had to do it over again, I would have double majored in computer science and psychology.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I have been toying with the idea of creating a Super PAC specifically to fund minority political campaigns at all levels of government. I truly believe we need a diversity of ideas for change to happen and we need a diverse group of people with a seat at the table. Not only do minorities need financial support, but they also need relational support to remove barriers to entry. I’d like to help with that.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

I would love to share a meal with James Clear, author of Atomic Habits. I’d be delighted to talk to him about how to hack one’s environment to make habits much easier to build, particularly for the neurodiverse community. My dream would be to consult on his next book. Too often we try to change ourselves and feel a deep sense of failure when we can’t be consistent in little habits. But I’m finding that small changes to our environment can do the trick. I don’t know why we always try to blame ourselves instead of the environment. I see this with organizational red tape too. I’ve witnessed too many salespeople with excel spreadsheets on their desktop because the CRM system is so cumbersome. Instead of trying to change the behavior, let’s fix the CRM system. Sometimes it’s the environment and not the behavior that’s the problem.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About The Interviewer: Stephanie Hood is the Editor of The CMO and holds vast marketing experience in industries spanning media, publishing, tech, fashion and travel/tourism. Throughout her career, she has led editorial and marketing teams and strategies for small and medium-sized businesses, consistently turning six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. With a passion for storytelling, Stephanie enjoys connecting with the world’s top executives to share their secrets to business success. Curious what she’s uncovered? Read more at TheCMO.

Michelle Tresemer of Foundations First: 5 Tips for Your B2B Marketing Strategy was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.