In this episode, we’re joined by Rachel Sterling, CMO at Identity Digital. Rachel shares her fascinating and varied career path, from production to marketing, discusses the impact of empathy in marketing, and provides insightful examples of how her unique experiences have shaped her professional approach. She also shares some fascinating insights from recent campaigns, the advantages of non-traditional domain names like .bio versus .com, and how Rachel and her team are tapping into seasonality for greater marketing efficiency.

Guest Quote:

“The reason I love talking about failure is because once you fail once, you never make that same mistake again. I would say my biggest failure was at Twitter. We did some research and we found that only 5 percent of users were creating 90 percent of the content. And so the next question you ask is, why? And the answer was fear. And so what we determined is that fear was a significant barrier to content creation. And we looked at the competitive landscape and we saw that ephemeral products like Instagram and Snapchat stories were hugely popular. And so not rocket science, let's do this too. And so we tested in lots of markets…and you know what we found?   Nobody wanted to use it…So we built something that we wanted. We didn't build the thing that people wanted, and so within eight months it failed. And so if you are building exactly what you want, you run the risk that you are not building for the person that you are trying to convert, and that is a recipe for disaster.”

Episode Breakdown: 

[08:42] Alchemy Unveiled: Building credibility through a non-dotcom domain

Why choose a domain that’s a non-dotcom? For one, they’re available. Rachel’s work focuses on marketing non-dotcom domains to help users understand all of their options for personalization with their websites.

[24:19] Nuggets to Campaign Gold: Failure is valuable

Rachel’s failures have informed something very important: how she approaches work in the future. When we make a mistake, we’re likely to never make that same mistake again. Rachel shares that her failures, alongside her successes, are what make her valuable to any organization.

[35:23] Gold Rush: Rely on the data

Gut instinct is a great place to start but it's not the end all be all. In Rachel’s case, she learned that gut instinct can mean building something users do not want to use. So start with gut instinct but always fall back on the data - what are you users telling you?

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn

Connect with Rachel

Learn more about Deluxe

Learn more about Identity Digital

In this episode, we’re joined by Chris Villarreal, Global Director of Wearables at Meta, who shares his career journey and insights into the evolving world of smart glasses. Chris provides an in-depth look into marketing strategies, the importance of data in driving decisions, and how wearables Meta are pushing the boundaries in technology and customer education. The discussion also highlights the role of content creators, the synergy between art and science in marketing, and international market expansion.  

Guest Quote:

“ I think that for too long, we've said marketing can't be measured. It's both an art and a science. And I agree it is still art, but I think that if you want to be a true partner to the business, you have to be able to show your impact. And so the first thing I would do is I would sit down with whoever controls the budget, and really sit down and say, are these the goals that are important to us and this is how marketing can continue? And if you agree on the fact that, yes, do we agree that these are the metrics? If so, then you have everything you need for your decision science team, your insights team, to set up campaigns that will help you determine whether or not you achieve that goal. So I think the idea of just being really clear on the objective, having business support for that objective, and then being able to measure it and talk about it is really important.”

Episode Breakdown:

[02:27] Alchemy Unveiled: Focusing on Customer Interests

When you’re at the forefront of making products in a new category, it’s essential to connect your customers’ passions and connect them with their need for your products or services.

[03:16] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold: How Products Become a Part of Culture

Products that offer a continuous, intimate experience allow for greater customer acquisition and ongoing engagement. The ability to incorporate thoughtful content creator strategies offers companies the priceless opportunity to showcase products and services in the wild in a unique way. This is how products become a part of culture.

[28:53] Gold Rush: Bring Value and Be Bold

Technology only becomes too much when it no longer serves who it was created for, so continue to bring value. As we continue to democratize marketing, be bold and take risks.

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn Turnoff

Connect with Chris Villarreal

Learn more about Deluxe

Learn more about Meta

In this episode, we're joined by Heather Teskey, VP of Marketing at Andersen Windows & Doors. Heather shares her extensive career journey from her beginnings in advertising to her current role, and they delve into effective marketing strategies, the importance of understanding customer needs, and leveraging data for impactful decision-making in B2B and B2C markets. Heather also provides insights into Andersen's innovation initiatives and discusses the significance of authenticity and brand consistency.

Guest Quote:

“ I think you look at as a marketer as you're going through is you really have to understand your brand and the position your brand has. And I think sometimes as marketers, we get tired. We get tired of our logo. We get tired of our tagline. We get tired of our positioning, and we want to be something else. Yet those are things that our audiences really value and they don't get tired. They don't look at it every day. I think I learned from Hallmark - Hallmark never changed their logo. That crown has always been that crown. The color has always been the color. I mean, you think of the years that they were, you know, if you care enough to send the very best.”

Episode Breakdown: 

[19:40] - Alchemy Unveiled: B2C and B2C Insights

In order to have the best information about your customers, you’ve got to bring all aspects of the business to the table including sales, product, and the customers themselves. What the individual customer side needs isn’t usually what the broader company side needs. It takes voices and perspectives from all sides to make both sides of the business strong.

[36:55] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold: Certified Success

With Andersen’s Certified Contractor Program, the focus began with the foundation of good people and good work, which benefits Andersen and the contractors and their businesses. It’s a win-win.

[43:41] Gold Rush: Be a Valuable Leader

If you want to be valuable as as leader, you have to empower your high-performers to do their jobs well. Doing what’s right for the business far exceeds almost anything else.

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn Turnoff

Connect with Heather Teskey

Learn more about Deluxe

Learn more about Andersen

In this episode, we’re joined by Clare Dorrian, CMO at SugarCRM. Clare shares with us how Sugar is navigating the AI landscape, marrying insights and intent signals, and how they’re listening to their customers to serve up better data. Clare also discusses the importance of starting with data and supplementing with human beings to drive impact.

Guest Quote:

“So are there signals out there in the market, in these accounts that are going to allow us to get a jumpstart on engaging with an account. Selling is hard and we come before all of that, but it can take time to convince somebody that they even have a need to help them understand how you fit. And so what we did was we married the insight from our platform about where we knew we could be successful with intense signals. And we did that to validate these long lists of accounts that sales felt like we needed to go pursue. It probably won't surprise you that the list that we ended up with looked very different  to the list that we started with. Why do I use that as a success story of how we've used data? One, because I think, it gave us the opportunity to work collaboratively with ourselves counterparts without whom we can't be successful anyway. And it also takes the bias out of who should be on that list in the first place and where, quite frankly, sales and marketing should be spending their precious dollars and their precious time.”

Episode Breakdown: 

[04:53] Alchemy Unveiled

Serving up insights within your product: If you want to encourage your sales team to work harder, faster, stronger, is you need to provide data insights front and center in your customer’s CRM dashboard.

[13:59] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold

Marrying insights and intent signals: Making sure any predictive engine you use is constantly churning through new data coming into teh backend. Allowing a clearer vision for your ICPs and the extraction of desired data.

[27:18] Gold Rush!

Get with the data program: Start with data, supplement with human beings. This is the only way to truly understand the impact of your product or service and know what is working and what is not.

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn Turnoff

Connect with Clare Dorrian

Learn more about Deluxe

Learn more about SugarCRM

Chris Walker, Refine Labs

In this episode, we’re joined by Michael Freeman, VP of Marketing at Airbase. Michael discusses how Airbase aims to deliver greater value and differentiation in the market, emphasizing the importance of listening directly to customers and the role of clear positioning. He also highlights the necessity of asking the right questions about your data and how those insights can lead to increased customer success.

Guest Quote:

“People just jump into data without spending the time to ask the right question in the first place, or to understand how is this data created? What are the assumptions behind it? What do these things mean? And so, I just see people jumping in and just start building reports and pulling things out and then making inferences off those answers, which may or may not be accurate, but they're probably often or very often they're not actually answering the underlying question that the person has. So I think the way that people can combat this is before you jump into any data, really spend the time thinking about what question am I really trying to answer? What blind spots might I have or what are the ways that this data that I'm looking at or I'm going to go ask for, how does it get created? If I can understand those things, I'm much more likely to get results that truly solve my problem or give me the insights I need to make the right decision.”

Episode Breakdown: 

[03:27] Alchemy Unveiled

Helping customers control their destiny: When customers use efficient procurement tools and systems, they better understand where they’re hard-earned dollars are going. This essentially helps customers take control of their destiny.

[09:30] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold

Small teams can move mountains: When you have a scrappy, nimble team, competing against larger companies with more money, you have to be very clever and keep asking questions and dig deeper to uncover insights that help you make better decisions.

[13:52] Gold Rush!

Don’t jump into data without asking the right questions: Before you start running and pulling reports, understand how your data is created and the problems you are trying to solve. 

Links & Resources:

Connect with Kathryn Turnoff

Connect with Michael Freeman

Learn more about Deluxe

Learn more about Airbase

In this episode, we’re joined by Andrew Fujii, Director of Digital Marketing & Sales at Legal & General America. Andrew shares specific techniques for getting it right with targeted ads, experiments LGA has conducted to reach their audience in different life stages, and why it’s important not to assume you’re always right. 

Guest Quote:

“Trigger marketing for life insurance is really about life events. And so whether it is an individual getting married, having their first child, buying their first home, those are all really big triggers for having life insurance or starting the process of looking for life insurance. And luckily there are some platforms out there, Google ads, for example, they actually have a life events category. And in that life events category, you can drill down and actually see this person is having a child, they're buying their first home, different things like that. And Google's building that based off of all the search intent that that user has.”

Segments: 

[03:03] Alchemy Unveiled: Mixing Marketing Potions

Trigger marketing for life insurance is all about life events: Andrew gives us a deep dive into why life insurance is important at any life stage and how, contrary to popular belief, it’s relatively inexpensive for most people. 

[16:42] From Nuggets to Campaign Gold

Flipping the approach on its head: Through a particular campaign, Andrew and his team were not seeing the results they wanted, so they refocused their efforts and saw the kind of success they were hoping for all along.

[20:35] Gold Rush!

Don’t assume you’re right: Actually, don’t assume anything! Sometimes, what seems like the worst product or webpage can be your greatest asset in a given moment.

Links & Resources:

• Connect with Kathryn Turnoff
• Connect with Andrew Fujii
• Learn more About Deluxe
• Learn more about Legal & General America

We sat down with Isabel Rittenberg, CMO of Marble. Marble is a "wallet for your insurance," allowing users to manage all their insurance policies in one place. 

Isabel shares with Kathryn her career journey from ed tech to FinTech to her current role at Marble. She discusses Marble's data-driven approach to target customers throughout their insurance lifecycle and shares insights into their data organization and processing methods.

Isabel highlights Marble's extensive use of data to personalize marketing campaigns and target specific user segments effectively. She discusses the importance of leveraging AI to enhance the user experience, such as developing an AI bot to provide personalized insurance insights. Isabel also explains how Marble utilizes data to identify business opportunities for partners, such as targeting homeowners in tornado-prone areas for specialized insurance campaigns. 

Overall, the interview provides valuable insights into Marble's data-driven marketing strategies and Isabel's approach to leveraging data to drive business growth and enhance the user experience in the insurance industry.

Guest Quote: 

“We would rather go to a small, targeted group that matches our parameters, then do that sort of spray and pray technique I mentioned before: So, really great getting granular with our queries. It's not uncommon for us to end up with a targeted campaign that might only go to, let's say, 400 people. But, those 400 people fit exactly in the parameters that we have, and then the  engagement sort of speaks to this. The fact that we're targeting correctly, you know, we'll see… 40 to 50 percent open rates.” - Isabel Rittenberg

Time Stamps:

• (01:36): Isabel’s Morning Data Routine
• (04:31): A Very Specific Customer
• (08:35): The “Self-Identifying” Customer
• (09:45): How Isabel Pulls Her Data
• (11:59): Using AI to Ask Questions
• (15:00): Going with your Gut?
• (20:32): Data Creating Business Opportunities
• (26:43): Creating a Need in the Market
• (32:59): The Gold Rush

Links:

Follow Isabel on Linkedin

Follow Deluxe on Linkedin

On today’s episode, we sit down with Alec Hanson, CMO of LoanDepot. Alec, a brand evangelist and content creator for lenders, shares insights from his 13-year journey. He delves into the evolution of marketing, blending his extensive sales background with emerging digital strategies, including social media and video content creation. Alec's humorous approach and dedication to authenticity shine through as he discusses his path to becoming CMO and the importance of leveraging data in modern marketing.

Alec highlights the crucial role of data in driving marketing decisions. From analyzing sales metrics to tracking customer behavior, Alec emphasizes the power of data-driven insights in shaping effective marketing strategies. He shares innovative approaches, such as leveraging AI for copywriting and customer service, to enhance efficiency and engagement.

Alec showcases successful campaigns driven by data insights. By targeting specific customer cohorts and delivering educational content, Loan Depot engages potential homebuyers effectively. Alec emphasizes the value of transparency and customer-centric marketing, debunking myths around data-driven approaches. Through candid discussions and practical examples, Alec underscores the importance of continuous improvement and staying ahead in the dynamic landscape of marketing.

Guest Quote: 

“With these kind of early indicators of people's activity, you know, we're able to send very specific messages (without creeping them out) that let them know that we have resources they may not have thought about.  And so, you know, we take on the form of education and, and kind of articles and blogs or videos that explain like tools and resources that are available to them.  And then it's an aha moment for a lot of our customers.”

Time Stamps:

• (00:21): Alec’s Humor in Making Marketing Content
• (01:46): From Mortgage Broker, to CMO
• (03:24): What data do you look at every day?
• (05:05): “If your marketing is good, sales is easy.”
• (07:27): AI Tools in the Marketing Mix
• (09:01): Making AI immediately cost effective
• (10:08): A not-so-lifetime purchase
• (13:43): A high quality of data, for Marketing Gold
• (16:03): Gary Vaynerchuk, and Unique Messaging
• (19:49): No more “Bad Marketing”
• (20:29): The Gold Rush

Links:

Follow Alec on Linkedin

Follow Deluxe on Linkedin

Today’s marketing frontier exists at the intersection of art and science - a realm where marketers have the power to turn their data into pure marketing gold.

Welcome to "Marketer's Alchemy," the podcast that unravels the mysteries and nuances that lead to transformational data-driven marketing. 

Within each episode, we will shine a light on the synergy between creativity, innovation, and analytics - revealing the alchemy that will elevate your marketing to the next level.

Explore with us, as we uncover invaluable lessons from seasoned marketing leaders who will illuminate the path to market success. We’ll demonstrate how data fuels innovation and propels campaigns to victory across a diverse array of industries. 

Marketer's Alchemy" is your front-row seat to the future of marketing, brought to you by Deluxe, a trailblazing force in data and marketing.