In this episode, Casie, a sales and business marketing graduate, shares her insights and strategies for mastering marketing with her sales expertise as a strong foundation. Focusing on long-term value and customer recognition, her strategies have led to business success and established her as a leader in the field.

Introduction

1:15 I have a degree in sales and started my career at Johnson & Johnson selling pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Through a leadership development program, I gained exposure to other functions like event marketing and realized my interest in marketing. I then moved to a startup selling advertising technology solutions to marketers, and eventually transitioned into using those solutions as a social media and mobile marketing manager for a global advertising agency focused on automotive. I then joined Ford Motor Company in various global marketing roles before becoming the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Airspace Link, a technology company focused on integrating drones into communities and airspace.

Favourite campaign

3:38 My favorite campaign that I’ve worked on was a partnership between Ford and Versace. It’s not two brands that you would normally think of together, but my favorite part was that Versace was looking for brands to feature in their fall campaign, exploring the concept of changing perceptions of masculinity from a man’s perspective. One of the things they were considering was the type of car a man drives and how it reflects his personality and personal brand, which resonated with me as someone in automotive marketing. Cars are not just means of transportation, but also a lifestyle choice. So when the opportunity to partner with Versace came up, it seemed like a perfect fit to showcase Ford as a global icon in the automotive industry. Instead of going with a more exclusive luxury brand like Versace, they chose Ford because of its iconic status and rich automotive history. It was really fun to put the campaign together as it introduced Ford to a new audience and solidified its status as an iconic brand. It also raised the question of how do you know if a brand is iconic, and being asked to be a part of this campaign was a validating experience for us, as it showed that others perceive Ford as iconic. It was a unique and exciting opportunity for me professionally, as I don’t usually work with fashion brands or attend fashion shows. Overall, it was a fun and fulfilling campaign to be a part of.

Role of data in campaign planning and success measurement

5:47 At Airspace Link, what’s interesting is that we begin and end everything with data. Our product is a data product at its core. We collect ground data from authoritative local sources and add on about 60 different layers of data from proprietary and verified third-party sources. We also map that with FAA data, which is the airspace authority in the US. All of this data is used to create a platform that helps us better understand the landscape for low altitude operations of drones. We always start with data because it’s a new concept that we’re introducing to the public, and we need to have that data to help people understand what we’re talking about and the benefits it can provide. For example, we can show that you’ll be able to safely serve 80% of your community with drones based on routing algorithms that determine safe and appropriate areas from both an airspace risk and ground risk perspective. So data is an integral part of our campaign planning, as it helps us understand what to focus on and what people need to hear. We generate data in a space where people may not even know what they need yet, and we bring education through a blue sky category creation approach, explaining to them why they should care about it. Data-driven campaigns are the easiest way for us to do that. Fortunately, in the digital world we live in today, we can use data on the back end to confirm if our campaigns are successful. We look at data points such as public perception and opinion levels before and after the campaign to gauge how much we’ve advanced understanding, familiarity, and skepticism. These data points are crucial for us to ensure we’re moving the needle in the right direction. It’s fun to work on campaigns that truly begin and end with data.

First Interaction with data

8:19 My first interaction with data that helped me understand the power of numbers within marketing and supported data-driven decision-making was doing a trade show audit when I worked for Johnson & Johnson. It became clear how disparate the data sets were and how hard it was for marketers to show return on investment in an easy quantifiable way that told the story. There’s data, and then there’s what the data tells you. Being able to transform data, such as attendance numbers, deals created, brand perception, and brand lift from trade shows, and seeing how difficult it was to connect the dots, drove me into a career focused on advertising technology. I realized the need for strong data to back up decision-making and not just rely on gut feelings. This experience has shaped my career, focusing more on the digital side of things, and expanding from there. I believe that this skill set of leveraging data is crucial in today’s world with abundant data available to marketers. Being in a startup, growth metrics are always important, and seeing the validation of new technologies and industries through data has been a driving force for my career.

Metric to measure  

9:56 So any type of growth metric has always been really helpful. But diving into some of those and understanding if it’s a powerful metric has been really important, so understanding things like growth for growth’s sake versus actionable growth items. Long-term value is really hard to prove or understand when you’ve only been in business for a few years, but getting those indicators has been really helpful for us. And then on the customer side, customer recognition of the product is really important for us. Metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) are incredibly important, especially for a company that is product and service-centric. We want to ensure that not only are we acquiring customers and growing our customer base, but that our customers are satisfied with what we’re providing and would recommend us to others. NPS has always been my favorite metric as a marketer because it reflects customer satisfaction and their likelihood to recommend us. Selling products to people doesn’t necessarily mean they love it or would recommend it to others, so NPS is a crucial organizational health metric for us.

Dream Metric/Feature  

11:07 I think anything that can connect the tools I use, especially products or features that help me with product marketing, communications, social media, offline communications, newsletters, etc., has been really helpful for me. As someone who wears multiple hats in a startup, having integrations that connect what I’m doing across different channels is invaluable. It helps maintain continuity and consistency from a brand perspective, which is crucial as we scale into larger teams. It’s easy to take for granted the importance of continuity and consistency, especially in smaller marketing teams, but it remains important even as the team grows. Anything that can help me connect the dots and make things easier from that perspective is always appreciated.

Role of PR and Communications in coming times  

12:25 I think it will become increasingly important as we see a shift in the media landscape from consumption to trust. Platforms are now focusing on verifying content sources to help users understand the nuances of what they’re consuming. Trust is a significant issue, whether it’s between humans, companies, or government entities. This underscores the growing importance of communications and PR functions in breaking through the noise and ensuring companies stay authentic, consistent, and build trust with consumers. Helping consumers understand what they’re consuming and instilling trust in their actions is crucial. However, in today’s skeptical environment, there is also the risk of negative consequences if authenticity and truth are not upheld, as people are more concerned about trust and authenticity in these areas than ever before.

My two cents  

13:35 I believe that it’s important to get engaged and involved, and to build your own sense of what works for you. It’s easy to feel intimidated and not speak up in a room with someone who has more experience or credentials, such as a master’s degree and years of work experience. However, a good communications professional or executive will listen for what they don’t know and value feedback, because they are not just communicating with people who already know what they’re doing. It’s about understanding the thoughts, perspectives, and emotions of the people you’re communicating with.   It’s essential to remember that everyone’s voice is valuable and can be helpful, and it’s important to have your own perspective rather than simply doing what others think you should do. In the field of communications, decisions can be data-driven, but there is often no right or wrong answer. It’s about building a case for what you believe is right and standing behind it, even if it doesn’t work out sometimes. Just like engineers who may have to rewrite their code or face failures, marketers and PR professionals need to embrace the idea that failure is a part of the process. We should celebrate the learnings and the ability to fail fast and prototype in PR and comms, just as we do in technical professions. Nobody gets it right 100% of the time, and embracing that fact can help boost confidence and encourage contribution.