How I Made it in Marketing

As an entrepreneur, as a marketer, the world is conspiring to grab your attention and distract you.

For example, when I started in this career, there were really only a few channels you could go to. Newspaper. TV. Radio. Direct. Maybe outdoors.

Now, that number has exploded.

Just one example of how many things you could possibly do with your business and your campaigns and your budget and your time.

But to find success, my next guest says – focus on one thing.

To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Gidon Rotteveel, co-founder, Delka Talents [https://www.delkatalents.com/]. Gidon manages a team of 25.

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

Lessons from the things he made

• You always have to separate work from your personal life
• Great things take time to grow
• Focus on one thing
• You don’t need 100 employees
• Entrepreneurship does not have an age
• Influencers come and go
• Don’t let small setbacks in the business distract you from your insane vision

Discussed in this episode

AI Guild [https://join.meclabsai.com/]

Adaptive Leadership: It’s never too late to reinvent yourself (podcast episode #90) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/adaptive]

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

Best Practices Are Pooled Ignorance: 4 quick marketing case studies of brands that found success by taking a different approach [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/best-practices-different-approach-brands-marketing-case-studies]

Customer-First Marketing: Every click is a wish (podcast episode #85) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/customer-first]

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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

Career growth is a funny thing.

That is the goal after all right? Junior copywriter, Senior copywriter, creative director, etc.? We all want a career path.

But that journey towards something – often people leadership – can also pull us away from something else. And it can be the thing we were most passionate about and got us into this industry to begin with.

So when I saw this lesson in a recent podcast guest application, it grabbed my attention – strike a balance between management and production.

That is, really, one of the core challenges of growing a marketing career.

To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Mary Church Cornette, CEO and Head of Creative, FUEL [https://www.fuelforbrands.com/].

Lessons from the things she made

• Strike a balance between management and production
• Learning and adapting to new tools will serve you well
• Maybe
• Build brands as systems
• Appreciative leadership is powerful
• Curiosity fuels leadership growth

Discussed in this episode

AI Guild [https://join.meclabsai.com/]

Fintech Marketing: Creativity and technology is a killer combo (podcast episode #50) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/fintech]

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

Building Brands: People and culture matter a lot, mentorship matters even more, product matters the most (podcast episode #119) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/brands]

Career Adaptability: Marketing can lead to many other things (podcast episode #103) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/career-adaptability]

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’ll tell you what happened in my career before. Maybe you’ve been there, too.

There’s a sponsorship, sometimes a fairly high-profile sponsorship, and I have gotten asked to write it about it in an ad or email…but, there wasn’t really a strategy. 

That is not the way to get the best ROI, the most juice for the squeeze.

Sponsorships truly succeed when they tie into the value proposition of the brand. So this lesson in a recent podcast guest application really grabbed my attention – “Maximize brand awareness by going beyond the ‘logo slap’ sponsorship”

To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Rebecca Biestman, Chief Marketing Officer, Guild [https://guild.com/].

Guild raised $175 million in a Series F funding round in 2022, at a $4.4 billion valuation. Wellington Management led the financing, and Oprah Winfrey participated in the round, along with other backers. 

Biestman manages a team of 70 in the marketing department.

Lessons from the things she made

• Maximize brand awareness by going beyond the “logo slap” sponsorship
• Embrace new tech that helps drive your brand strategy
• To build a brand that lasts, consider rebranding a team sport 
• Be prepared to step up when the unexpected happens
• The best candidate for a role isn’t always the one who has done it before
• Making a difference and building something great aren’t mutually exclusive

Discussed in this episode

Join us for MEC050: Let AI Agents Market For You [https://join.meclabsai.com/ai-agents] on Tuesday, May 13th at 2 pm EDT

Creative Marketing: Does it all make sense? (Podcast Episode #19) [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/creative]

Marketing at 200 MPH: Sports sponsorship lessons from F1 & finance (podcast episode #125) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/sports]

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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

FUD. Fear, uncertainty, doubt.

I first learned about this sales and marketing tactic – which is aimed at influencing perceptions by highlighting potential negative outcomes – early in my career when working with big tech companies.

An example – nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.

Then later in my career when I worked with cybersecurity companies, I saw the tactic on steroids.

But I always wondered – is this really the most effective way to treat our potential customers? Is this customer-first marketing? Is there a better way?

So I rejoiced when I saw an anti-FUD lesson in a recent podcast guest application. To hear that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to B2B fractional marketing executive Nick Lagalante.

Lessons from the things he made

• Consultative selling sharpens your message
• You don’t need to scare people to sell them security (FUD vs. value-driven messaging)
• Research-driven rebranding preserves value
• Genuine partnerships redefine tech PR
• Collaborative creativity sparks breakthrough campaigns
• Strategic internal comms empower brand resilience

Discussed in this episode

The 8 Micro-Yes Architecture that Drives Conversion – Join us on Thursday, May 8th at 1 pm EDT for the latest session of MEC200: Design Your Offer [https://join.meclabsai.com/design-your-offer] (from MeclabsAI, MarketingSherpa’s parent company). Discover how a series of small, affirmative steps can guide your prospects toward a big, final “yes”...transforming incremental trust into measurable conversion.

Content & Communications: Use your marketing budget and AI to make your customers’ lives more fun and interesting (podcast episode #51) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/content-and-communications]

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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

The artificial intelligence revolution is upon us. Today we see AI doing everything from taking orders in a drive-thru to serving as a pseudo boyfriend or girlfriend.

But, according to my most recent guest, more importantly – AI boosts revenue.

To hear the story behind that lesson, along with more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Dario Markovic, CEO, Eric Javits [https://ericjavits.com/].

Eric Javits had $15 million in revenue last year and is tracking to hit $18 million this year.

Markovic manages a team of 10 with a three- to four-million-dollar marketing budget, along with a worldwide vendor ecosystem.

Lessons from the things he made

• Data wins
• AI boosts revenue
• Sustainability sells
• Funnels = profits
• Retention over acquisition
• Sell outcomes, not products

Discussed in this episode

Learn how to craft an Offer Value Proposition in our April 24th session of MEC200: Design Your Offer [https://join.meclabsai.com/design-your-offer]. Join us at 1 pm EDT for a live online, interactive session (from MeclabsAI, MarketingSherpa’s parent company).

Conversion Rate Optimization: 3 effective marketing strategies explained by the marketers who created them [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/conversion-rate]

MarketingSherpa Customer Satisfaction Research Study [https://www.marketingsherpa.com/freestuff/customer-first-study]

Online Business Strategy: Steps marketers took to create powerful marketing funnels with Google, Amazon, and Facebook [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/online]

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

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

There are always tough times as you build and grow a startup.

So how do you keep a team going when times are tough? ‘Culture is the glue’ my next guest says.

To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Dawn van Hoegaerden, CMO, DefectDojo [https://defectdojo.com/].

She is building out the marketing department at DefectDojo, has three vendors, and recently made her first hire. DefectDojo recently announced a $7 million funding round. It has been downloaded 38 million times.

Lessons from the things she made

• Adaptability creates opportunities
• ‘Soft skills’ are really hard skills
• Customers will tell you how to market to them if you ask them
• Find a mentor who champions your growth
• Culture is the glue
• If you don’t want the job, rethink the path

Discussed in this episode

Let AI Agents Market For You – April 23rd at 2:30 pm EDT

AI Guild [https://join.meclabsai.com/]

Career Adaptability: Marketing can lead to many other things (podcast episode #103) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/career-adaptability]

Marketing Career: What you need to understand at each step of the job seeker’s journey (even if you’re not looking) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/how-to/job-seekers-10-step-journey]

Marketing Mentorship: 10 digital marketing lessons your fellow marketers learned from their mentors [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/best-practice/mentorship]

The Prospect’s Perception Gap: How to bridge the gap between the results we want and the results we have [https://meclabs.com/education/Flint-prospects-perception-gap]

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

Want to move up in your organization? Here’s the best advice I’ve gotten in my career – ‘train others to replace you.’

Hey, it’s a bit scary. If others can replace you, it’s easy to fire you, right? However, if you’re truly providing value, once others can do your current tasks, it also makes it possible for you to move up to the next level in your organization.

Now here’s another version of that same wisdom – ‘automate your job.’

That’s a lesson from my most recent guest. To hear the story behind that lesson, along with many more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Prateek Shrivastava, advanced analytics manager, Cummins [https://www.cummins.com/].

Cummins is a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It reported $34.1 billion in revenue for 2024.

Shrivastava leads a worldwide team of five data scientists, and his team estimated they generate $50 million in annual savings with their models.

Lessons from the things he made

• Embrace failure
• Pivoting is a superpower
• Driving business value matters more than perfect models
• Helping others creates genuine connections
• Automate your job
• Be your own brand

Discussed in this episode

Customer-First Offer session of MEC:200 Design Your Offer [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/DTC] – April 10th at 1 pm EDT

Social Media Marketing: Educate your executives (podcast episode #123) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/social]

Value Proposition Power: 3 ways to intensify the force of your value proposition [https://meclabs.com/course/sessions/value-proposition-power/]

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 realize everyone who listens to How I Made It In Marketing is not a marketer, per se.

Entrepreneurs also listen. Not native to our industry, so to speak, but you still need to know it well enough to get customers…so you can run your business and do whatever it is that you really are passionate about.

Well take heart in a lesson from my next guest – everything is learnable. Even marketing. Even photo shoots.

To hear the story behind that lesson, along with more lesson-filled stories, I sat down with Connor Swegle, CMO and Co-Founder, Priority Bicycles [https://www.prioritybicycles.com/]. 

Priority Bicycles started by raising $565,000 on KickStarter 11 years ago, and now has 35 models and fields 25,000 orders a year. Swegle manages four brands – including e-comm, omnichannel, advertising, and events – with a core nimble team of six.

Lessons from what he made

• Everything is learnable
• Whatever they said about lemons and lemonade
• Your worst friend is still better than your best marketing
• You can (and should) be yourself
• People want your story – be brave enough to tell it
• You are not alone

Discussed in this episode

Join us to learn how to craft a Customer-First Objective in Session #2 of MEC200: Design Your Offer [https://join.meclabsai.com/design-your-offer] on April 10th at 1 pm EDT (from MeclabsAI, MarketingSherpa's parent company).

Creative Social Media Marketing: When to break the rules (podcast episode #129) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/creative-social]

Strategic Advertising and Marketing: It’s not what you make, it’s what you make possible (podcast episode #117) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/strategic-advertising]

Email Marketing: 3 award-winning lessons about relevance [https://sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/email-marketing/email-awards-winners-relevance/]

3 case studies of marketers that made a positive change in customers’ lives (while getting results for their business) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/positive-change-marketing-case-studies]

Content and Communications: Tenacity, keep it simple, authenticity works (podcast episode #33) [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/interview/content]

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

Perception changes everything.

Think about many of the chores your customers endure in their lives. Or you do personally. The perception of a chore is not positive, right?

Take shaving – dragging a sharp metal object across your face every morning to meet societal norms…sometimes even drawing blood. Ouch. Literally.

So how do you turn something like that into a luxury experience? According to my latest guest, that is ‘the power of storytelling in branding.’

To hear the story behind that lesson, along with more lesson-filled stories, I talked to Eric Malka, CEO and Founder, Strategic Brand Investments [https://www.strategicbrandinvestments.com/], and author of On The Razor’s Edge: The story of The Art of Shaving [https://www.strategicbrandinvestments.com/projects-1].

Malka was the co-founder and CEO of The Art of Shaving and sold it to Procter & Gamble. He currently advises and coaches seven entrepreneurs and founders through Strategic Brand Investments. He has invested in more than half of their companies.

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

PLAYER GOES HERE

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Amazon Music

Key lessons (backed by critical case studies) from what he made:

• The power of storytelling in branding 
• Truth in marketing matters now more than ever
• Word-of-mouth helps you find your best customers
• Actionable takeaways from the people he made it with
• Greatness in the detail
• Sometimes firing someone is doing them a favor
• Every brand should have a battle cry

Discussed in this episode

AI Guild [https://join.meclabsai.com/]

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

“Authenticity” vs. “Professionalism”: Should you be your authentic self in your brand’s content and marketing? Or must you adhere to certain strictures considered “professional” in your industry? [https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/authenticity]

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