Jeff Perkins, CEO of ParkMobile, helped grow America’s most popular parking app from 8 million users to 31 million, and counting. Of all the marketing strategies to throw money at, listeners will be surprised to learn what tactic had the greatest impact. Jeff also shares what he’s learned about engaging with users in a way that’s helpful and not, well, annoying. 

Jeff is the author of How Not to Suck at Marketing. In this episode, he touches on what he calls the three fundamentals for modern marketers: focus, flexibility, and resiliency. He also discusses how he repositioned himself through personal branding to move past the limitations of his Marketing Manager title to become a Chief Marketing Officer.

Questions Jeff Answered in this Episode:

• Was it always a career aspiration to become a CEO?
• What’s the biggest jump you’ve made in your career?
• What will people learn from your book?
• What’s the biggest problem you’re currently facing at ParkMobile, and can marketing solve it?
• What’s one of the most impactful marketing strategies you’ve applied at ParkMobile to grow to 31 million users?
• How do you retain and engage your users?

Timestamp:

• 2:44 Jeff’s background
• 5:06 Breaking out of the “Marketing Manager” title
• 10:15 Advice on LinkedIn profiles
• 12:46 How Not to Suck at Marketing
• 19:31 A ParkMobile example of focus
• 23:00 Their most important UA strategy
• 26:40 Retention & engagement
• 28:54 Lesson learned in appropriate messaging

Quotes:

(2:11-2:20) “Don’t sell yourself short. I’ve probably had points in my career I could never imagine being a CEO either, but like anything, you don’t know what you can do until you try.”

(7:38-7:46) “The big step for me was redefining my brand because if you don’t define yourself someone else will.”

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Jeff Perkins LinkedIn
• ParkMobile Parking App
• How Not to Suck at Marketing by Jeff Perkins