Sure, January has nearly come and gone (thank goodness…), but there’s still plenty of time left in the year to incorporate these emerging MarTech trends into your growth marketing strategy. On the heels of CES 2023, growth marketing experts Billy Fischer and Billie Loewen share the digital products that drove the most buzz at the most influential tech event in the world and dive deeper into their predictions and recommendations for the year ahead. 

From facilitating more co-branded partnership experiences to restructuring and revitalizing your brand’s loyalty program to anticipating big-name mergers and acquisitions, there are a lot of exciting developments in store for the rest of 2023. 

Hot topics discussed:

• Why brands will need to demonstrate ROI of COVID-driven digital investments, and sooner rather than later
• How recent conversations around social media regulation might inspire changes in influencer marketing tactics
• The increasing impact of emotionally- and ethically-driven brand loyalty
• Billy’s favorite digital products and experiences from CES 2023, where WillowTree unveiled its new Voice Innovation Team

Keep the growth going:

• Read the episode transcription
• Follow Billie Loewen, WillowTree Partner & VP of Growth Marketing on LinkedIn
• Follow Billy Fischer, WillowTree Partner & VP of Business Development on LinkedIn
• Follow WillowTree on LinkedIn

Hungry to solve sticky problems, drive business outcomes, and learn the latest technical skills? Growth marketing might be the career for you, as our host and growth expert Billie Loewen explains. Here, Billie explores the skill sets and mindsets she seeks in growth marketing candidates, including familiarity with growth- and marketing-specific frameworks, analytics and measurement tools and tactics, overall product and user experience, and many more. So brush up on those interviewing skills, growth job seekers: we’re hiring!

Hot topics discussed:

• How experience in business environments ranging from agencies to nonprofits helps upskill growth marketers 
• The value of cross-functional skills and tactics like HTML, SQL, A/B testing, journey mapping, writing use cases, and more
• Curriculum from programs like Reforge and Khan Academy to help you brush up on a wide variety of growth-related skills 

Keep the growth going:

• Read the episode transcription
• Follow Billie Loewen, WillowTree Partner & VP of Growth Marketing on LinkedIn
• Follow WillowTree on LinkedIn

What do marketing teams at Fortune 1000s and local nonprofits have in common? A lot, if you ask WillowTree growth marketing expert Rebecca O’Connor. Large and small shops alike have to demonstrate ROI and stay current with rapidly changing capabilities of software such as customer relationships management (CRM) systems or customer data platforms (CDPs).

Rebecca joins the podcast to explore solutions for such cross-industry challenges facing growth marketers as well as CRM and CDP users. (Bonus: many of Rebecca’s recommendations are easily implemented and widely available.) She and Billy explore the power of effective preference centers, why real-time data benefits content strategy, marketing *and* communications, and how Rebecca’s unique background in Latin American policy analysis jump-started her growth marketing career. 

Hot topics discussed:

• How to honor and leverage a customer’s “gift” of zero-party data 
• Key features for some of our favorite, constantly evolving growth marketing platforms — Braze, Amplitude, and mParticle, among others
• Why proving ROI on CDP and CRM investments is a lot like a product roadmap

Keep the growth going:

• Read the episode transcription
• Connect with Rebecca O’Connor, WillowTree Senior Growth Manager on LinkedIn
• Follow Billie Loewen, WillowTree Partner & VP of Growth Marketing on LinkedIn
• Follow Billy Fischer, WillowTree Partner & VP of Business Development on LinkedIn

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Add another celebration to your holiday circuit, as we mark our 25th Room for Growth episode this week! Our hosts Billy and Billie share their MarTech resolutions for 2023 and reflect on what we learned in 2022. 

We’ll discuss how even amid unprecedented layoffs in the tech sector, brands should nonetheless invest in marketing strategies to deliver on — and exceed — customer expectations. That happens when companies get crystal clear on their “North Star” metrics and how those impact ROI. And (hint hint…), all that hard work all happens in Q1. 

Hot topics discussed:

• Consumers’ rising expectations for digital experiences in 2023
• Tech’s evolving labor market and economic impact
• The power and potential of AI-generated content — are we scared or stoked? 

Keep the growth going:

• Read the episode transcription
• Follow Billie Loewen, WillowTree Partner & VP of Growth Marketing on LinkedIn
• Follow Billy Fischer, WillowTree Partner & VP of Business Development on LinkedIn
• Follow WillowTree on LinkedIn

Grocery shopping is one of Jeff Tang’s favorite past-times. As VP of Marketing and Revenue Generation for the plant-based food startup Wicked Kitchen,  it’s a “lost art” that offers a window into the way CPG companies and consumers think. And, it’s one way that brands can build authentic connections with consumers — a strategy that underpins Jeff’s human-centric approach to digital marketing in the quick service retail (QSR) space. 

As a former Emmy-winning journalist who cut his marketing chops at General Mills and Clif Bar, Jeff believes marketing must fulfill consumers’ functional, social, and emotional needs first. He joins Billie and Billy to explore global customer acquisition in the vegan food space, how a meaningful founder story can spark a startup’s growth, and (perhaps most notable for our vegan-curious, sweet-toothed listeners) where you can find Wicked Kitchen’s vegan ice cream that Jeff claims will change your world.

Hot topics discussed:

• The critical building blocks in a data-driven marketing strategy
• Brand integrity, credibility, and inclusion as a means to drive marketing ROI
• How the “jobs to be done” framework structures personalization, customer acquisition, and conversion
• Why appealing to consumer emotion drives deep brand loyalty

Keep the growth going:

• Connect with Jeff Tang, Wicked Kitchen VP of Marketing and Revenue Generation on LinkedIn
• Follow Jeff’s vegan journey on Instagram, @workinonvegan
• Follow Billie Loewen, WillowTree Partner & VP of Growth Marketing on LinkedIn
• Follow Billy Fischer, WillowTree Partner & VP of Business Development on LinkedIn
• Follow WillowTree on LinkedIn

The customer data platform (CDP) space is crowded and confusing. Do CDPs drive ROI? Will they even be relevant in five years? (Spoiler alert: The answer to both questions is “Yes, and…”) This week, mParticle CEO Michael Katz brings clarity to what’s become a controversial topic in the technology space. At its core, mParticle is a CDP that gathers data across diverse sources and organizes that into individual profiles to inform audience segmentation, custom attributes, marketing redeploys, and more. 

Before Michael launched and grew mParticle, he founded InterCLICK, an advertising technology company that grew revenue by 7x in two years, went public, and was sold to Yahoo for $270 million. At one point, Michael was the youngest CEO on Nasdaq. Hear Michael’s leadership lessons, and how in spite of all of his entrepreneurial pursuits, he still manages to read a book a week. As Michael says, “It’s all interconnected.”

Hot topics discussed:

• The cyclical nature of the three primary CDP use cases: streamlining data collection, unifying data from different sources, and targeting custom audiences
• How data strategies drive personalization and customer LTV
• Using your tech stack to create trust, transparency, and control

Keep the growth going:

• Connect with Michael Katz, mParticle CEO on LinkedIn
• Follow Billie Loewen, WillowTree Partner & VP of Growth Marketing on LinkedIn
• Follow Billy Fischer, WillowTree Partner & VP of Business Development on LinkedIn
• Follow WillowTree on LinkedIn

The six different “likes” in the English language each have a functional purpose, explains speech and dialect coach Samara Bay, whose A-list clientele includes the likes of (ahem…) Rachel McAdams, Pierce Brosnan, Gal Gadot, and Keegan-Michael Key. For Samara, identity and voice are intertwined. Her work asks listeners to reimagine what we think strength, warmth, power, and passion sound like in settings that include the boardroom, big screen, campaign trail, and beyond. 

Samara’s forthcoming book Permission to Speak discusses voice standards and stories, historical biases, and how to establish ownership of our own voices. With Billy and Billie, she explores how to bring passion and joy into authentic messaging and public speaking, dialing up or down the energies, we bring into a room or marketing tactic. Samara also shares her experiences as a young actor and mentor for women that have shaped her approach to speech coaching. Grab some tea with honey to go along with this episode: you’ll probably be talking about it for quite a while.

Hot topics include:

• Creating an authentic brand voice through diverse representation and market research
• Coaching for executive presence through love rather than fear
• The role of joy, mischief, and pleasure in presentations, pitches, and other high-stakes conversations
  
  

Keep the growth going:

• Get tips from Samara on how to best prepare before an important conversation
• Preorder Samara’s book Permission to Speak
• Follow Samara on Instagram, where she shares weekly voice tips
• Follow Billie Loewen, WillowTree Partner & VP of Growth Marketing on LinkedIn
• Follow Billy Fischer, WillowTree Partner & VP of Business Development on LinkedIn
• Follow WillowTree on LinkedIn

Jason Lambert, VP of Beyond Labs and BEES at AB InBev, thinks of a customer data platform (CDP) as a circulatory system: it powers the instantaneous flow of data to all business functions.  It’s not the “perfect” metaphor, he says, but it does summarize the impact of a platform that’s become a buzzword for marketers. 

Part of Jason’s role at the largest and oldest brewing company in the world involves a few more buzzwords that we can definitely get behind — empowerment, transparency, and inclusivity within the B2B e-commerce space. With over 500 iconic brands and 10 million small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMB) in the AB InBev portfolio, Jason wants to solve pain points and elevate the experiences of these worldwide retail partners.

Enter BEES: it’s a B2B e-commerce and SaaS platform co-created by AB InBev and Ambev that is reinventing the digital ecosystem for retailers through highly personalized reward and loyalty programs, expanded portfolio visibility, flexible fulfillment, and more. As the platform matures, Jason creates space for even more tech innovation at BEES’ incubator, Beyond Labs, and in his role as an adjunct professor of product management at the Columbia Business School.        

Here, Billy and Jason discuss best-in-class, consumer-grade platforms, and processes in the massive yet oft-neglected B2B market. Our host and guest also explore the hyper-local yet global nuances of the beverage industry, and how to incorporate a modern tech stack and business development strategy into a 650-year-old commercial business. It’s a deep dive into MarTech that will leave you feeling all the Budweiser.

Hot topics discussed:

• Taking a problem-first approach to investing in CDPs, data analytics, and broader strategic digital transformation
• Elevating online and offline B2B experiences through technology and process improvements
• How — and why — marketers must bring the best practices of B2C into the B2B space
• Training and upskilling the next generation of great product leaders

Keep the growth going:

• Read the episode transcription
• Connect with Jason Lambert, VP of Beyond Labs and BEES on LinkedIn
• Follow Billie Loewen, WillowTree Partner & VP of Growth Marketing on LinkedIn
• Follow Billy Fischer, WillowTree Partner & VP of Business Development on LinkedIn
• Follow WillowTree on LinkedIn

What drives the deep craving for a White Castle burger? Why do “Cravers” wait in line for hours, even days, before the opening of a new location? And how has the 101-year-old, family-owned hamburger chain — the first in America — facilitated collabs with the likes of PUMA and Wu-Tang Clan? For chief marketing officer Lynn Blashford, it’s a marketing special sauce that drives the brand to reach new heights in quick service retail (QSR) locations in the Midwest and coast-to-coast go-to grocery markets. 

Lynn and Billy discuss the niche, nuanced definition of a “cult-like” brand, the importance of trial-and-error in building loyalty programs, and how White Castle has among the lowest employee turnover in the industry. A word for the wise before you start this episode: make sure you have a Crave Case nearby or a slider heating up in the microwave. You’ll definitely be craving one by the end of this delectable episode. 

Hot topics discussed:

• Bringing your brand to new, passionate consumers in other industries
• Establishing multi-generational brand loyalty 
• Driving innovation through flat organizational structure, accessible leadership, and cross-functional collaboration
• How White Castle was well-positioned to pivot to online ordering and address staffing shortages during the height of the pandemic

Ashley Elleby wants Amazon Music to differentiate rather than duplicate. As Global Head of Lifecycle Marketing at Amazon Music, she drives customer awareness of and engagement with the retailer’s ad-free and unlimited music streaming platform for Prime members. It’s a tall order, but as Ashley discusses, her bias toward action comes with a big reward: it’s the same “no fear” mindset she had as a college athlete, engineering student, MBA grad, fashion founder, former Google marketer, and mentor for underrepresented communities in tech. 

We’ll explore how Ashley helps Amazon Music surprise and delight its customers amid the cacophonous, competitive landscape of music streaming services. We discuss metrics to determine customer LTV, the benefits of speaking the language of engineers, marketers, and executive leadership, and how to hit the mute button on all of our annoying internal “What ifs?” 

Hot topics discussed:

• Balancing customer personalization with corporate monetization in the music industry
• Empowering Black and brown people and women in the tech sector
• How foresight, creativity, and collaboration help product teams progress 
• Why past marketing performance isn’t always an indicator of future success 
• The extreme care and audience specificity growth marketers must bring to channels like email, push notifications, and splash screens

Keep the growth going:

• Read the episode transcription
• Connect with Ashley Elleby, Amazon Music Global Head of Lifecycle Marketing on LinkedIn
• Follow Billie Loewen, WillowTree Partner & VP of Growth Marketing on LinkedIn
• Follow Billy Fischer, WillowTree Partner & VP of Business Development on LinkedIn
• Follow WillowTree on LinkedIn