How I Made it in Marketing

In marketing, it’s easy to become a manager and lose touch with the craft. Val Riley, VP of Marketing & Strategy at Unbounce [https://unbounce.com/], has embraced the ‘Player-Coach’ mindset, blending leadership with hands-on execution to stay relevant and drive results.

I sat down with her to discuss how she learned that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories from her career.

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

• Take risks to propel your career
• Stay a ‘Player-Coach’ as long as you can
• M & A = Opportunity
• Marketing is like a soccer team
• Reflect on the day
• Why kindness is a competitive advantage in leadership

Discussed in this episode

Join us for How to take a conversion marketing approach to Agentic AI and RAG (with zero tech skills) [https://MeclabsAI.com/Conversion] on February 12th at 2 pm EST

Entertainment Industry Marketing: Never forget the independence of your imagination (podcast episode #121) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/entertainment]

Customer Engagement: Marketing case studies from Coors Light, a professional soccer team, and a private jet charter [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/customer-engagement]

Copywriting Contest: Write the best-performing subject line and win [https://marketingexperiments.com/copywriting/subject-line-reader-contest]

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For more insights, check out...

This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

There’s a great Chris Rock bit where he says educational leaders lie to kids when they say kids can be anything they want. He says to – tell kids the truth, “You could be anything you’re good at. As long as they’re hiring. And even then, it helps to know somebody.”

The good-at part, hopefully we help you with that everyday on MarketingSherpa.

But the “it helps to know somebody,” that ties into one of the key lessons my next guest has learned in his career, and he uses the famous Porter Gale statement to explain it “Your network is your net worth.”

To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories from throughout his career, I talked to Carlos Gil, U.S. Market Brand Evangelist, GetReponse [https://www.getresponse.com/], and author of The End of Marketing: Humanizing Your Brand in the Age of Social Media [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-end-of-marketing-carlos-gil/1138482940].

Stories (with lessons) about what he made in marketing

• Build a brand around authenticity
• Every piece of content is a stepping stone to something bigger
• Educate your executives
• Pivoting fast and recognizing opportunities is key
• Your network is your net worth
• Failure is a stepping stone to reinvention
• The right leaders can unlock your potential

Discussed in this episode

Educate yourself. Join us for How to take a conversion marketing approach to Agentic AI and RAG (with zero tech skills) [https://meclabsai.com/Conversion] on February 12th at 2 pm EST. There is no cost (from MarketingSherpa’s parent organization, MeclabsAI).

Social Media: Marketing to millennials [https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/consumer-marketing/ecommerce-eretail/social-media-millennials-2/]

Authentic Brand Storytelling: Embed creative within your business model (podcast episode #105) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/authentic]

Strategic Marketing Communication: Don't do something for the sake of ticking a box (podcast episode #91) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/strategic-marketing]

Marketing: Sometimes you have to throw the business model out (podcast episode #34) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-business]

Strategic Marketing Communication: Don't do something for the sake of ticking a box (podcast episode #91) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/strategic-marketing]

Innovation Leadership and Coaching: You should almost always do less than you think (podcast episode #46) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/innovation]

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Subscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

“Incorporate lessons from others' mistakes into your business strategy.”

I read this lesson in a recent podcast guest application and I thought, ‘well, that is actually a pretty good summary of what we do here on How I Made It In Marketing.’ You can tune in and learn from others’ mistakes so you don’t have to make them yourself.

And, of course, their triumphs as well. What fun would it be to only discuss the mistakes?

So I talked to the man behind that podcast guest application – AB Lieberman, CEO and Founder, Clicks Talent [https://www.clickstalent.com/] – to hear the lessons from his triumphs and mistakes, along with the stories behind those lessons. 

Stories (with lessons) about what he made in marketing

• Act Fast
• Location matters
• A $300,000 Wake-Up Call: Why your accountant matters
• Incorporate lessons from others' mistakes into your business strategy
• The customer is always right and make sure they are always happy
• Look at the person, not at the product

Discussed in this episode

Get Productive With AI [https://meclabsai.com/GetProductive] – January 8th at Noon EST

Copywriting: Every word matters in these marketing case studies from AAA, a consultant, and a real estate company [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/brand-direct-case-studies-AAA-word-marketing-examples]

Help, Don’t Hype: A guide to customer-first marketing [https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/customer-centric-marketing-2/help/]

Marketing Experimentation Strategy: Define and differentiate between experimentation and execution in marketing activities (podcast episode #93) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-experimentation]

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Subscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.

For more insights, check out...

This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

Come with me if you will, for just a moment, to the small shtetl of Anatevka, in Tsarist Russia, the year is 1905, and we are in the barn of Tevye, a dairyman.

In his reality, he is poor. But in his imagination, ah in his imagination, he is a rich man.

I thought of that famous musical number when I read this lesson in a recent podcast guest application – “Never forget the independence of your imagination.”

A perfect explanation of Tevye. And hopefully, of you and I as well, after we listen to my latest guest…Jeffery Keilholtz, SVP of Marketing, Broadway Licensing Global [https://broadwaylicensing.com/].

Tune in to the full episode using this embedded player or by clicking through to your preferred audio streaming service using the links below it.

Stories (with lessons) about what he made in marketing

• Win the day – how daily focus leads to campaign success
• Stay nimble
• Stay cool under pressure
• “Never forget the independence of your imagination"
• Execution sets people apart
• Endurance is essential

Discussed in this episode

Get Productive With AI [https://meclabsai.com/GetProductive] – January 8th at Noon EST. There is no cost.

Enterprise Solutions Marketing: You can make a big career, and still stay human (podcast episode #99) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/enterprise]

Product Management & Marketing: Surround yourself with the right people (podcast episode #38) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/product]

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Subscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.

For more insights, check out...

This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

When this CMO's team proved her wrong about their ebook program, she didn't just accept it – she made them broadcast their victory to everyone. 

Hear that lesson – “let your team take a chance on testing it and prove you wrong” – and many more lesson-filled stories in my in-depth discussion with Susanne Rodriguez, Chief Marketing Officer, Auvik [https://www.auvik.com/].

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

• Be an uncertainty killer 
• Don't always trust your gut
• Clear is kind
• Lean in and listen on Zoom to connect and build deep relationships remotely
• Bring your best, most efficient self to the office every day to keep it moving
• Prioritize by business impact
• Let your team take a chance on testing it and prove you wrong

Discussed in this episode

Get Productive With AI [https://meclabsai.com/GetProductive] – January 8th at Noon EST. There is no cost.

Not Enough Lobster In The Ocean: Trusting their gut leads to 90,000% revenue growth at Mint Mobile (Podcast Episode #11) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/revenue-growth-podcast]

Team Building: Loyalty, relationships, pre-selling, and other keys to marketing management success (Podcast Episode #16) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/team-building]

A/B Testing Prioritization: The surprising ROI impact of test order [https://marketingexperiments.com/a-b-testing/surprising-roi-from-test-order]

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Subscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.

For more insights, check out...

This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

We recently published data on interdepartmental collaboration by marketing teams [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/interdepartmental-collaboration]. More leading marketing departments had a strong partnership with the product team than with any other internal team.

But for the lagging marketing departments, strong partnerships with the sales team fell in the middle – 4th out of 7 departments – and they had far fewer strong partnerships with the product team than leading marketing departments did.

I was working on the data for that chart article when a podcast guest application came across my desk with these lessons – People and culture matter a lot, mentorship matters even more, product matters the most.

To hear the stories behind those lessons, along with more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Yana Ernazarova, CMO, Edushape [https://www.edushape.com/].

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

• People and culture matter a lot
• Mentorship matters even more
• Product matters the most
• Vision and culture are key to long-term results in large organizations
• Sometimes you should kill bad business ideas quickly, no matter how passionate you are about them
• A marketing or business idea is useless until it's executed upon

Discussed in this episode

Get Productive With AI [https://MeclabsAI.com/GetProductive]– January 8th at noon. No cost.

Enterprise Solutions Marketing: You can make a big career, and still stay human (podcast episode #99) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/enterprise]

Marketing Mentorship: Direct feedback is a gift (podcast episode #98) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/marketing-mentorship]

Product Quality: Marketing's job is to help the product win (podcast episode #97) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/product-quality]

Creative Marketing and Advertising Campaigns: Hold the line & get a door kicker (podcast episode #84) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/creative-marketing]

Get more episodes

Subscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.

For more insights, check out...

This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

We’ve all seen it in the movies. A character has an invisibility cloak, or drinks a potion, or perhaps turns into a ghost. And then, oooh how tantalizing, they can see what goes on when they’re not around.

Well as our latest guest explains it, we shouldn’t just think of that kind of moment as some sort of sci-fi fantasy. We should work as if we’re trying to optimize that conversation.

As she puts it – “It's about what people say when you are not in the room.”

To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Allyson Havener, Chief Marketing Officer, TrustRadius [https://www.trustradius.com/].

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

• Creating a category is one of the most difficult GTM strategies, but if you have enough conviction, time, and money to pull it off, it's worth it
• Done is better than perfect
• It's about what people say when you are not in the room
• Align marketing initiatives to revenue
• Lead marketing strategy with the voice of your customers
• Partner to understand the investment needed for growth while also achieving profitability

Discussed in this episode

Get Productive With AI – Join us on November 20th at Noon EST. There is no cost. See the 7 principles you can learn in this session and register to join us at MeclabsAI.com/GetProductive (from MarketingSherpa’s parent company, MeclabsAI).

B2B Digital Marketing & Demand Generation: My boss has asked me to produce $1 billion in revenue. Now what? (podcast episode #109) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/B2B-digital]

Female Entrepreneurship and Marketing: Having built a big community doesn't mean you will be able to monetize it (podcast episode #71) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/entrepreneurship]

Brand Voice: 3 quick marketing case studies from Pedigree, a freelance marketplace, and a marketing agency [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/brand-voice-case-studies]

Get more episodes

Subscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.

For more insights, check out...

This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

I would never read so much text. This is long and boring to me. 

Versions of this have been said to me throughout my career from designers. And not to pick on designers, but I really don’t care. Because they weren’t the ideal customer for the product. So of course they weren’t interested in the copy.

Like my old boss Mike Morgan used to tell me – you never read the refrigerator ad on page 3 of the newspaper…until your fridge breaks.

So when I came across this lesson in a podcast guest application, it grabbed my attention – ‘You don’t have to like it. You aren’t the target.’

To hear the story behind that lesson, and many more lesson-filled stories, I invited on Renee Miller, Founder and Executive Creative Director, The Miller Group [https://www.millergroup.com/].

Tune in to the full episode using this embedded player or by clicking through to your preferred audio streaming service using the links below it.

Stories (with lessons) about what she made in marketing

• To mine own self be true. 
• Say YES then figure out how to get it done
• Provide an exceptional experience 
• Be modest
• You don’t have to like it. You aren’t the target.
• The more you value yourself, the more likely you are to take calculated risks

Discussed in this episode

Get Productive With AI – November 20th at noon EST: Join Flint McGlaughlin, CEO, MeclabsAI, for an accelerated version of the AI Guild MEC050 course. There is no cost. See the 7 principles you can learn in this session and register to join us at MeclabsAI.com/GetProductive (from MarketingSherpa’s parent organization, MeclabsAI).

Customer-First Marketing: A conversation with Wharton, MarketingSherpa, and MECLABS Institute [https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/consumer-marketing/wharton-interview-customer-first-marketing/]

Creative Marketing and Advertising Campaigns: Hold the line & get a door kicker (podcast episode #84) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/creative-marketing]

Value Proposition Articulation: Examples of helping customers understand and believe your business’ marketing messages [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/value-proposition]

Strategy: Don’t think of your customers as a ‘target’ to acquire (podcast episode #65) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/strategy]

Enterprise Solutions Marketing: You can make a big career, and still stay human (podcast episode #99) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/enterprise]

Special Report: How to Market to the Super Rich -- 4 Challenges and 8 Must-Know Strategies [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/how-to/how-to-market-to-super]

Get more episodes

Subscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application

One of the biggest transformations in my career came when I went from trying to sell people with my writing, to trying to help them.

Helping people understand whether a product or service is truly right for them creates long-term trust. So does helping them even when they don’t buy from you.

Not only is this more effective, but my work is part of my life. My soul doesn’t magically leave my body during the workweek. And it is fulfilling to help people – both morally and financially.

So when I read this lesson in a podcast guest application, it struck a chord – "Clear, simple language can cut through the noise and drive results." I knew I wanted to sit down with the man behind it, and see what we can learn from him.

I talked to Dr. Yaniv Zaid, CEO, The Art of Persuasion [https://www.persuasion.co.il/en/], and author 11 books (most recently The 21st Century Sales Bible [https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-21st-century-sales-bible-yaniv-zaid/1142120003]).

Stories (with lessons) about what he made in marketing

• Clarity is powerful for persuasion
• Understand cultural nuances
• Turn failures into learning opportunities
• Effective storytelling is a tool for persuasion
• Be Batman, because nobody is really Superman
• Positive messages win over more people than negative messages

Discussed in this episode

Join us for Get Productive With AI – November 20th at Noon EST. No cost to attend. See the 7 principles we'll be teaching and register at MeclabsAI.com/GetProductive

Clarity Trumps Persuasion: How changing the first seven seconds of user experience drove a 201% gain [https://marketingexperiments.com/value-proposition/surprising-wins-from-2009-using-insights-from-an-uncertain-economy-to-drive-302-growth]

Global Technology Leadership: Adapt your marketing to reflect cultural nuances (podcast episode #113) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/global]

Branding Lessons from TV Production: Don't focus on failure, keep moving towards success (podcast episode #92) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/brand-lessons]

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Subscribe to the MarketingSherpa email newsletter [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/newsletters] to get more insights from your fellow marketers. Sign up for free if you’d like to get more episodes like this one.

For more insights, check out...

This podcast is not about marketing – it is about the marketer. It draws its inspiration from the Flint McGlaughlin quote, “The key to transformative marketing is a transformed marketer” from the Become a Marketer-Philosopher: Create and optimize high-converting webpages [https://meclabs.com/course/] free digital marketing course.

Apply to be a guest
If you would like to apply to be a guest on How I Made It In Marketing, here is the podcast guest application – https://www.marketingsherpa.com/page/podcast-guest-application