Humans of Martech

What’s up folks, today on the show we are joined by India WatersBased in Atlanta Georgia, she’s a community management expert with a deep appreciation for startups. She got her start running community at Memoir, a NY-based startup that built a photo sharing app. The startup eventually pivoted to focus on photo sharing for the wedding industry and was later acquired by The Knot – one of the biggest wedding brands. India currently leads growth and technology partnerships at MessageGears, a customer marketing platform for enterprise customers. India thanks for taking some time to chat with us today!Early startup daysWalk us through some of the early days at Memoir, I read that you got 2 rounds of funding which included prominent investors. You spent 4.5 years there and I’m sure things changed quickly and often.The importance of trying new thingsBefore landing at Memoir – You graduated from UGA in the middle of a recession with not very many jobs available. Walk us through some of the earliest jobs you did and what advice you’d have for folks in similar positions today.Constantly changing strategies in startupsSo that eventually brought to startup land – Phil and I are no strangers to working for startups and needing to consider pivots and changing strategies. What lessons do you have when it comes to adapting to frequent strategy changes?Target customersYou first started working at Memoir which was an app for consumers and was probably hard to segment as it could be used by anyone. Then the company (Veri) refocused to pivot the app for the wedding industry which led to the acquisition. Now you’re at a tech company selling marketing software to marketers. Talk about how different it is to sell a product with product market fit or a more focused target customer?Community-led growthSome of your earliest focus areas were community growth. What did community-led growth look like 10 years ago vs today?Working up to different roles at a bigger companyYou’ve been at MessageGears now for a little over 4 years and you’ve held 4 different roles there. Starting with Market research analyst and biz dev to Growth manager, to senior growth manager and now Associate Director of Tech partnerships. Oftentimes folks will leave a company to get a promotion but your the perfect example of working up at the same company. Talk us through some of the ways you were able to get promoted and yeah walk us through that journey a bit.MessageGears – on premise vs SaaSLet’s talk about the product for a bit. You’re one of the 300+ names that show up on G2’s grid of marketing automation software but you describe yourselves differently. ‘the first and only customer marketing platform that connects directly to our customer’s enterprise data warehouse.’ Talk us through that, the first and only platform that connects directly to your DW On premise software vs SaaS and cloud based tools Connecting and using DW data vs (API) operating on a copy of your dataMessageGears vs Pardot and MarketoI noticed in one of your job openings that MessageGears actually uses Pardot to send marketing campaign emails?Work with Demand Generation team to execute lead generation, nurture and conversion programs in Pardot.What’s the difference between Mg and Pardot and why doesn’t MG use MG?Baby podcastYou started a new podcast with a colleague from MessageGears, tell us more about that!Time management /staying happyOne question we ask all our guests is how do you remain happy and successful in your career? How do you find balance between all the things you’re working on while staying happy?--India’s twitter: https://twitter.com/indialandwaters India’s LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/india-waters/  ✌️--Intro music by Wowa via UnminusCover art created by SLB

The great resignation phenomena has taken over mainstream media, but what does it really mean? Is it simply a buzzword for saying, more people than ever are sticking to remote work and not going back to the office? Or does it actually mean that more people are taking the leap and leaving bad workplaces, and toxic jobs? Let’s call it the great realization or the great awakening. COVID and the pandemic didn’t just open up the eyes of CEOs and managers to remote work, more importantly, it awakened a class of workers who’ve been sucking it up in a bad job thinking  it was normal and that things aren’t better anywhere else. But these people are awake now. And better jobs and companies do exist. Here’s todays main takeaway: Hustle culture is dying. You deserve better pay, more flexible hours, less meetings, better benefits and better leadership.Last season in episode 048, we told you when to quit your job. In today’s episode, we’ll walk you through a simple playbook for finding a good job, with a company you love.JT are you ready?—The importance of networking in finding a job and how this doesn’t mean what it used to.Most leaders are looking for known quantities, and want a reference from within their circleDo good work at your current company, be someone others want to work with, complete your tasks on time – people will recommend youNetworking isn’t becoming an influencer; it’s getting to know the communityProvide value, and you will get value in return—I’m part of several marketing communities, one I’ve heard great things about and just recently joined is ALL IN, a free Slack community for in-house marketers created by Brendan Hufford, the guy behind SEO for the rest of us.One of the coolest channels is the #career channel where you can post questions about specific challenges. Recently a fellow member posted about having a hard time finding a new role. He mentioned applying to a bunch of places but not hearing back from any of them.I helped some of my former students in this exact situation and I’ve boiled it down to a simple blueprint for this episode. —LOL - I'm incredibly anti-social. I'm not part of any community -- I stay in touch with past colleagues;I will reach out to folks in community to do mind-shares -- that has resulted in most of my consulting opportunities.—Alright I’ll share the blueprint in it’s simple form and then I’ll go in depth on each step… you’ll see it’s pretty simple but it’s been super powerful for me in my career.Keep a nice list of companies you'd love to work forFind the hiring managers on LinkedIn and follow them (not the same as req connection)Add links to each HM’s activity feed in your list and check it out twice a week or more oftenLike their posts, reply to them when you think you can add valueKeep an eye on job postings they shareBefore you apply, reach out to the hiring manager and ask if they can answer questions asyncSend them thoughtful questions about how to stand out and what makes a great candidateCrush the application process—I like the advice on having a companies you’d love to work for. I imagine this requires a bit of soul searching on what you want out of your own career. How did you figure that out? And what does that list of companies look like for you? –Yeah I’m not super active on social in terms of spitting stuff out, but I’m what you could call a doom scroller… I read too much. So I’m fairly in tune with new companies or companies that are standing out. When I discover one of these companies, I add them to my list.Before getting a gig at WordPress, some of the companies I was actively keeping an eye on we’reZapierNotionBufferAhrefsAppcuesConvertkitCustomerioIterable1passwordVidyardBrazeGrammerly… —How do you come up with the list?—It’s a mix between the folks they attract, their products, their size and also that they’re fully remote. Everyone’s list should be a bit different whether you prefer big companies or small or fintech vs martech. –Alright, so you gotta list of dream companies, whats next?–Step 2 is finding their linkedin pages and figuring out who are the hiring managers on that team. So if you’re a marketer, look for the VPs and the director of marketing or growth or whatever you’re into.The key thing here is don’t just flat out cold ask for a connection request. Some of these folks are super friendly and they'll accept. But you don’t have a relationship yet so you’re better offer clicking on the “follow button”.Once you’re on their profile, scroll down to the activities section and click on See all activity, then hit Posts. That’s a direct feed to everything they post on LinkedIn. Grab that URL and add it to your spreadsheet next to the company name and the hiring manager’s name.As an extra step, you can search twitter to see if they are active on there too.–Up to you how often you want to do this but you can skip this stpe if you’re on LinkedIn everyday, chances are you’ll catch their posts anyway but in the spirit of digital minimalism, carve out 10 or 20 minutes in your day, once or twice a week and check out their posts.They key thing here is engaging with their posts, start with a few likes and eventually if you have value to add, add some comments to their posts.In time, the hiring managers will get familiar with your name, they might even check you out.–What you want to look for here is job postings obviously. All linkedIn hiring managers will share their jobs on LI… it’s the most common type of post. Many of them even bump their friends’ hiring posts as well. When you see something you want to apply to, reach out to the hiring manager before you do. Don’t ask them for a coffee or a quick intro, be direct and offer to let them answer async. Have some thoughtful clarification questions about the role and show your passion for their work/company.You want to standout ahead of applying here with some thoughtful questions and feel free to even ask for tips on the hiring process.And then let the magic happen, crush those interviews.—If you keep doing this even after you have a job you love, you’re essentially building relationships with your peers. You can offer to chat with them and ask for advice on a problem you’re dealing with.Eventually you won’t need to apply to jobs anymore and all these connections you’ve made will naturally evolve into new opportunities.✌️--Intro music by Wowa via UnminusCover art created with love in Canva

What’s up everyone! Today on the show we’ve got one of my favorite email marketers and arguably the funniest marketing twitter account to follow, we’re joined by Samar Owais. She’s a top Email pro and female entrepreneur based in Karachi, Pakistan. She designs email strategies and writes email copy for SaaS & eCommerce clients with a simple goal: increase conversions and reduce churn.She isn’t your average consultant though. Samar is a model of courage and heart, known for being fiercely independent, doing excellent work, caring about results and always telling the truth. She’s worked with big brands like Drip, Pinterest and Hubspot, as well as solopreneurs like Paul Jarvis, Fix my churn, Copyhackers and a growing list of smaller Ecomm businesses. She runs an awesome email newsletter where she picks email fights and questions the status quo of how things are typically done in the email world. She also runs an ecomm bootcamp to help folks become email pros.Samar, we’re grateful to have you on the show.Pivot from content marketing to emailI have a lot of friends who started in email and ended up moving into content, sounds like you did the opposite. Give us the long story :)Discounts and emailsSomething I’ve learned from you is how to think about discounts in email. Discounts get a bad rep because they eat away at your profits, bargain brand perception, attract shoppers that are deal-focused and avoids addressing actual issues. Do you ever make exceptions to your no discount rules like bundled discounts in dtc or shipping delays… How to email marketing - without using discounts, especially when your sales team is requesting them or you’re starting a role where it’s just business as usual?Email approachAside from no (or as little as possible discounts) you’ve shared your simple strategy for email marketing also consists of extra focus on CX and open to experimentation. I’d love for you to expand on that a bit:https://twitter.com/samarowais/status/1486534280725602305 Email should be owned by everyone at the companyYou’ve said this before on a few podcasts, how do you operationalize that in bigger teams with growing opinions?Growing traffic that’ll convert into email subsOne of my favorite tweets of yours is when you claim too many folks obsess about growing an email list vs growing traffic that will convert into email subs. What’s the difference and what advice do you have for early marketers responsible for email and lead gen.https://twitter.com/samarowais/status/1487200305515274245?s=20&t=nZYTI902PZupV-xvupvH7g Ecomm email bootcampI love your ecomm email bootcamp landing page. “This is not a get rich quick scheme” and “I don’t teach anything inside this course that you can’t eventually learn and figure out on your own.” This is a very humble way of saying, “yo I’ve been doing this for 10+ years and I’ve crammed hundreds if not thousands of hours of experience and research into a digestible course so I can save you a shit ton of time.”Talk to us about your process for building an email course from scratch, how do you decide what’s important enough given the limited amount of content you can cover?follow-up:You tweeted about some of the email challenges as part of your bootcamp/workshop. One thing you said was being so proud seeing some of your students emerge as email strategist. What are early signs that tell you someone has “it”https://twitter.com/samarowais/status/1489243917476192266 Saas bootcamp course one day?I loved your tweet about maybe creating a similar email bootcamp for Saas but it would be a deep dive into pouring over customer research until you find the real problem and then figuring out how to fix it with email.In all seriousness, many SaaS are completely blind to this and we don’t have to talk about the importance of understanding your customers but ‘how do you fix things’ with email, can you give us some practical examples?https://twitter.com/samarowais/status/1483513135499780097 Email newsletter platformsYour email teardown newsletter is powered by Converkit, but I know you’ve been in a bunch of other platforms. Talk to us about your favorites and what makes a great email automation tool.Who you don’t work with.I love that on your site you have a section about who you don’t work with. “I’m not the email strategist and copywriter for you if you’re a tobacco, gambling, alcohol, or an arms and ammunition company.” What advice do you have for early freelancers that don’t want to work with specific companies but are afraid of being that bold this early?Girl educ...

What’s up everyone! Today we have a super special guest on the show, this interview is more than 12 months in the making – You probably already follow him on Twitter – I’ve personally learned a bunch from him and know you’re going to get a lot of value from our conversation today. Today we’re joined by Corey Haines.He’s a full time creator and the former head of Growth at Baremetrics. These days he keeps busy with many different things. He runs a weekly newsletter, And a growing marketing community, He also manages multiple podcasts, he wrote a few SaaS marketing courses, he built-sold-and bought back a marketing jobboard and he’s a startup marketing consultant/advisor. Most importantly, Corey’s all-round great dude with a world class beard.Corey, we’re grateful to have you on the show – thanks for taking the time.September 2020, you quit your job at Baremetrics to become a full time creator. You wrote about this and described it like you strapped on a spacesuit, launched into space and your plan is to figure out where you want to go from there.  How has the journey been 1.5 years later? Do you know where you’re going yet?Yeah. Oh, man. The last year has been a whirlwind. I guess it's almost been like a year and a half now since I left. The North Star guiding goal has been to get into SaaS myself, start a SaaS company, maybe even a couple of products, and just have a small portfolio of bets and multiple things going on at once and see where they all kind of take me. I knew that doing that with a full time job is pretty hard, especially when I didn't want to step on your toes at Bearmetrics since we sold other SaaS startups. So I didn't want to build something that ended up competing with one of our customers. So I just kind of knew, like, that wasn't really an option for me. I didn't want to get another job and then start working on those side projects as well. But also, I wasn't really even close to building anything quite yet anyways. But I just wanted to kind of pull the trigger and jump and strap onto the rocketship, get into space. And then I could figure out where I was going from there. And on a personal level, very, very challenging. And like a lot of learning on hey, here's how to manage cash flow for all the different kinds of feasts and family cycles of freelancing and consulting. And just like knowing where to kind of find money and all the different revenue streams that you have when you're on your own, you don't have a paycheck really coming through the door. From a time management perspective, I've really learned how to be super ruthless with my time. I would say for the first four or five months I imagined once I left, I was like, I'm going to be free. I have so much time, I'm just going to get so much done. All these things are on my list. And then I didn't get anything done for like four months. I was like, what is happening? And because I had so many different meetings, so many admin things. I was busy doing emails, I was trying to chip away at small things here and there, but I was never really moving the ball forward in any one direction. And so I learned to be really ruthless. Now I do most of my meetings, like 95% of my meetings on Wednesdays. The rest of the week is completely wide open and I set what I want to get done, and I get those things done. And sometimes I work late, sometimes I work early. But you have to be really ruthless. It's been a great learning experience because really through the startups that I've worked for, consulting, advising, freelancing. Now I’m basically the marketing lead for Savvy Cal as well. So that's kind of helped bring back some stability in my life. And I see them all as just kind of practice rounds and getting in the reps and sets for learning how to build and grow a SaaS startup for when I want to do that for myself and for my own, especially the last year and a half, it's been like an invaluable learning lesson. Bootstrapping SaaS is really hard. You have to put yourself in the right position. Honestly, I wouldn't say that going the VC route is easier because I think raising money is really, really hard and it's a grind. And once you're on that track, there's a lot of expectations and it's a whole different game. But in the early days, it's easier because you have money, you pay yourself a paycheck. You hire the people to work with you. Bootstrapping is not easy. And so I would count this last year and a half as a part of my bootstrapping journey for building SaaS because it's all the work you have to do in order to be able to be financially stable, to put your time on something else completely without your whole world kind of exploding and going broke or, like, maxing out your credit cards. So I'm doing the best that I can, but I think I’m doing a pretty okay job so far. Multiple eggs in different basketsOne thing I want to ask about – you kind of mention the various different projects you're working on, like the idea of having multiple eggs in different baskets. What is the appeal of that for your personality? And how do you manage that as you're pushing these projects forward? I think that it's not necessarily, like, shiny object syndrome. I think that's what a lot of people conflate with having a lot of projects. You start one thing and then jump to the next one before you really kind of see the potential of it. I'm not really like that. It's more that I'm just mega impatient, and I just want to see all these things exist, and I want to do them and I'll do them all at once. My life is kind of, like, chaos sometimes. That's also why I leave four days out of the week completely wide open to get a lot of work-work done. I just want to see those things exist. I just want to work on them. I'm kind of a yes person and where I want to have my cake and eat it too. I just don't really like compromising and leaving something for later. So that's more the thought and the spirit behind multiple things. It's not really diversifying my income and multiple revenue streams and millionaires have seven sources of income. It's more just like, I want to work on all those things. I think they're fun. I want to see them exist, and I don't want to do them sequentially. I want to do them currently. What would it take to get you back in-houseSo, in-house, freelance, consultant, entrepreneur… Now you're getting a taste of all of them at the same time. Maybe someone in the audience right now is kind of thinking to themselves, I want to hire this Corey Haines guy that maybe this is not likely to happen… You possibly get a lot of offers to go back in-house. What would it take to get you back in-house? Or how would you design your ideal in-house role? Or scrap the question completely and tell me why the entrepreneur journey is the only way to go. Okay, well, I'll give you a Humans of Martech exclusive, because I haven't talked about this really anywhere else. So for last year, I've been working with someone who we were going to build SaaS together, and it's sort of like that was like the main thing. I'm putting most of my eggs in this basket. Long term, I want to work with this person. Then it turned out, his other businesses became too successful to really be able to step away from it even part time. So basically it came to a point where like, hey, we're good friends. We would love to do this, but it's just like not going to happen. It's just not realistic for this stage of our lives. That's a huge bummer because I was kind of j...

What’s up folks – we’ve been away for a while but we’re back and in full swing for season 2 with even better content than season 1.Today we’re going to tease some of our early season 2 episodes and catch you up on what we’ve been up to since our break.JT, in August of last year, your world changed in two huge ways. Your wife gave birth to twin boys Felix and Clyde.You might hear them in the background of a few episodes as we usually coincide with feeding time.Man – a huge family of 6 now, 2 girls, 2 boys… are things starting to settle down a bit now having crossed the 6 month mark?As a hopeful parent one day myself, I have many questions, the first is: with your twin boys, did you ever mix up which baby was which and just went with it? Is it true that even in identical twins, belly buttons are always different and the best way to tell them apart?Walk me through the routine of managing a tsunami of children. When does Jon go to bed, between all the diaper changes, do you get any time for yourself, are you still finding yourself able to get up super early?You’ve said to me that having a 4th baby is like being handed a baby while you’re already treading water… Do you still agree that going from 0-1 is the biggest transition?Tell the listeners about your freaking sauna and how it’s changed your life LOLSo after your parental leave – you took back the helm of leading Klipfolio’s marketing team. What’s exciting you the most about what the team is cooking up over there these days?Phil, you started at Automattic / WordPress.com in June last summer, you’re coming up on 10ish months now. Having only ever worked in startups before, how’s it been adapting to a 2,000+ person org?It’s been pretty wild honestly. Automattic is like a mini Berkshire Hathaway – a holding company of sorts that houses many different products and brands under one roof. I have colleagues that work on Woo Commerce (the open source Shopify), Tumblr (Taylor Swift’s favorite social media platform), and some that work with me on WordPress.com. But we also have WordPress VIP, JetPack, Long Reads, Simplenote and during my early days there we acquired PocketCasts (the best podcast app) and DayOne (a journaling app that I’ve been using for many years).So wpcom isn’t a 2,000 person company, we’re like 400 but yeah biggest marketing team I’ve ever been part of for sure. Biggest transition period for me was less about working with a bigger team and more about working asynchronously across multiple different teams. We use a tool called P2, its an open source collaboration app built on Gutenberg/WP and it’s how we mainly communicate with each other.Aside from a few HR emails, I don’t think I’ve ever had an email from a colleague. Everything is on P2 or on Slack. We do have some synchronous zoom calls, but any key decisions is always posted back on P2.Missed a week because of a vacation, you don’t need to have a colleague catch you up in a meeting, you have a nice list of unread P2 posts and you’re right back into it.It honestly feels like a different world… but I think it’s where the world is moving.What excites you the most about working at WP almost hitting the 1 year mark.I’ve sharpened my growth experimentation skills and my email copywriting skills but I find the product fascinating. I got to take a tiny part in rolling out FSE, WordPress’ big 5.9 update which came with some huge changes to the product. It’s already been downloaded by 60M sites across the world and it’s been really fun tagging along and seeing the next lineup of changes.So with all the stuff going on, we definitely leaned on guest episodes to start season 2 and we’ve got some big names, some folks are huge on twitter, some folks are c level in big tech, some are up and coming super stars, you know us, we've got a nice mix of folks with wide ranging topics and opinions.✌️--Intro music by Wowa via UnminusCover art created with help via Undraw

HUGE thank you to all of our awesome guests. In celebration of our 50th episode, we're rounding up all the answers to the most important question we asked every single one of our guests: what advice do they have on how they've managed to balance everything life throws at them and how they stay happy and sane at work.This is our 50th episode. Most of our episodes were actually just the two of us, jamming on a topic. Sometimes we went deep in a technical topic like email deliverability or lifecycle. Sometimes we talked about the people skills, working in tech, working remote. 15 of our 50 episodes had guest interviews. We showcased martech folks from different roles and seniority levels. But for each of our guests, we finished by asking the same question: What advice do you have on how to balance everything life throws at you and how do you stay happy and sane at work?Our guests share their answers back to back, time stamps below:02:00 - Lauren Sanborn (05: Happiness at the intersection of sales & marketing)"Happiness is all about your perspective, 25% your situation and 75% how you look at it." 05:22 - Brian Leonard (07: Be friends with engineering with open source Martech)"The secret of autonomy and purpose is to work on something that is important. Find a way to write your own job description so that it lines up with your purpose and mastery."06:16 - Nick Donaldson (10: Curiosity, learning & success in your MOPs career)"Prioritize your family and your friends. Turn off notifications outside work hours and dedicate time to doing things you enjoy." 07:40 - Jonathan Simon (11: Do you still need a degree to have success in marketing?)"It’s hard. Exercise and mental health is incredibly important. Pick up hobbies, do what makes you happy, find time for yourself." 11:02 - Julie Beynon (17: Making marketing analytics not intimidating)"You have to be proactive. You’re the only person that owns your happiness. If you’re not happy, you need to fix it, not someone else."13:10 - Steffen Hedebrandt (19: Reaching B2B attribution nirvana)"Having a kid makes you become really good at prioritizing. I ask myself, does this make me happy or does this correlate with more revenue yes or no?" 14:40 - Naomi Liu (25: How to ace your first marketing job)"Tech is my love language, and I get a lot of satisfaction using it to solve other peoples problems both in my personal life and business."15:08 - Melissa Ledesma (26: Melissa Ledesma: Women of Martech)"I encourage you to step away and talk to your friends about your job. They will not understand a word of what you’re saying, and let them show you their own excitement and absorb that. There’s so much more for us to be invigorated by if we take a moment to remember what we’re actually doing." 16:45 - Erin Blaskie (27: Startup marketing, in-house vs freelance)"Ditch everyone else’s definition of success. Nobody cares that you drive a BMW and it likely won’t amount to additional happiness. Focus on what would make you feel successful as a person and don’t be afraid of having a non linear path." 19:11 - Shannon McCluskey (37: Searching for remote martech pros)"Ever since I’ve become a mom I’ve been learning by necessity and actively keeping my working hours 9-5. Remote work is always around the corner but it’s important to get that distance to make sure you connect with family."20:37 - Pierce Ujjainwalla (39: Creativity in marketing is under attack)"I never work past 5. I never work on the weekends. I attribute happiness to pleasure and challenges. Pleasure is golfing and skiing and I find a lot of challenge in my work but also some hobbies. Lawn care gives me a mental break. Digging out weeds is very relaxing." 22:33 - Manuela Barcenas (41: From first marketer to team manager)"To stay balanced and happy, find activities that make you feel good, block time in your calendar for specific tasks and get into journaling."24:38 - Roxanne Pepin (44: Startups and the ability to learn RevOps)"Having a separate space in your house for where you work. Being able to “leave” and not have to bring your work with you in other places of your house. Oh and take Slack off your phone!"26:54 - Danica Bateman (46: A day in the life of a Marketing Automation Manager)"Surround yourself with positive people. People that are invested in your success and want to see you grow and thrive." 27:48 - Vladlena Mitskaniouk (47: Grow your marketing career one data mystery at a time)"Acknowledge that things came in waves. When the clam is there, really embrace those moments. Don’t always try and push yourself through every moment. Book vacation well ahead of time and check out. Book time for your lunch, book time for your workouts, book time in the morning to do a checkin with yourself. No one else is going to save that time for you. "✌️--Intro music by Wowa via UnminusCover art created with help via Undraw

Half of all podcasts have fewer than 14 episodes. When we started Humans of Martech, we were determined not to become a statistic.As we near the end of our first season and approach our 50th episode, we wanted to give you a peek behind the curtain to see how we think about this show.For us, at least, the idea of hitting 50 episodes is a big milestone -- and anyone thinking of starting their own shows -- whether it’s a personal project or for your company -- needs to be prepared to put in some work.Let’s dive in!Show thesis & missionWhy is your show worth your audience’s timeWhy is it worth your timeYou have to be motivated to do this week after weekEquipmentQuality is important; get a good set upMic; A cardioid (heart shaped) polar range eliminates unwanted background noise from behind and the sides, making this an affordable mic that's suited for podcastingAudio-Technica 20 SERIES AT2005USB Cardioid Dynamic Microphone amazon linkI read a lot about mics and tested a few out, I don’t recommend the Blue Yeti mic despite so many podcast guides recommend it. You will suffer from something called proximity effect. The Blue Yeti is a Condenser Mic, not a dynamic mic. Condenser mics will pick up sounds a mile away, and there are indeed valid concerns around air conditioners running etc.Get a pop filter, practice how to mindfully not blow air in the mic when you pronounce Ss and Ps and Ts.Zoom — but also tried riverside. Riverside was amazing quality, but too amazing. We needed to clean up too much of the audio because it highlighted too many imperfections for my taste. Zoom gets the job done, make sure in your settings you boost audio input from everyone, you don’t reduce too much background noise and that you record separate audio files for each participant. Editing -- Garageband for the win. I usually clean up the audio files in Audacity, I have a few plugins that clean up some audio, especially when we have a guest that comes on recording from their laptop mic.  DistributionTransistor.fm to auto distribute and host everything for usAnchor, soundcloud also optionsApple PodcastsSpotifyPocket CastsGoogle PodcastsA lot scrape Apple thoughApple isn’t a great service when publishing, any edits take a while to update the RSS, best to publish earlyStyle of showWe love having guests on but only about 40% of our episodes are run by a guestWe worked a lot on the show formatresearching and writing episodesone person as subject matter expert, one person as hostThe lost episodes5 or 6 episodes that were recorded and on Phil’s computerTook a while for us to get our groove. even the early episodes of this season we notice a big improvementPromotionThe part of the show we invest the least amount into. Our mission is to help marketers be happy & successful — we believe in that mission and that over time the show will build an audience by providing valueWe did experiment with a few things:Mailchimp listTwitter and LinkedIn posts weeklyHeadliner and audiogramsOwler for translationsIndividual episode artworkCohost vs solo: it’s really nice to have a cohost when interviewing guests — get a moment to think as you go; if there’s an awkward pause as you think of your next question the host comes in. Advice if you’re starting a podcast for your business or on your own:- Develop a strong thesis -- it’s the beating heart of the show and will keep you motivated in the long run

Whether you’ve got something lined up or you need a fresh start, quitting your job is a huge life decision, -- in today’s episode, we’ll cover signs to look out for that might be telling you it’s time to move on from your current role. Being successful and happy in martech requires having a true north for your career. Sometimes, that means recognizing that your current workplace isn’t helping you advance your career. It could be you’re not happy with your work culture or work for a bad manager; or, it could be that it’s time to move on to acquire the skills needed to reach the next level.Alright JT, I feel like this episode has been a long time in the making. We teased about it in the trailer, it’s something most people do a few times in their career; handing in that two weeks notice. But leaving a job isn’t always about leaving a bad workplace or boss. Sometimes you work for someone awesome at a great company, but it’s time to move on for your own progress. No one gets to decide that for you. You call the shots in your career.  Leaving a job should be objective: Make a list of pros and cons when comparing two positions. What factors matter most to you? What are your goals?  Knowing when to quit your job is about having a sense of your north star for your career. Having a north star for your careerFreedom with your careerHave red linesCareer mission statement For me, there’s many ways you can make this more complex for this but in its simplest form, the north star of your career is your vision for fulfilling 3 things: 1- Passion and meaning, something that motivates and energizes you2- Sustainable income, cover costs comfortably, save for futureAnd 3- can be pursued in balance with your personal life, something that allows you to spend time with family, build strong relationships and good health.  That’s it, it’s a simple formula. It’s more guide posts.  Early in your career, the 2nd factor is less important and usually the 3rd factor is less busy so you can double down on the first factor and discover your work passion and meaning. It’s okay to change your North star Career plans are meant to be flexible. My favorite part about the north star metaphor for career purposes is that the North star actually changes and it isn’t exactly north.  The current north star is Polaris, but because the Earth’s axis shifts every several thousand years, different stars will serve as north stars. But also, the North Star isn’t exactly north. Polaris is the closest star to true north, and is "close enough" for most basic navigation purposes- So your career north Star can change and it doesn’t have to be super specific.  Like our sailing ancestors, when we are lost at sea, it’s meant to guide us. We can always look up to the sky to reorient ourselves and get back on course.  Example:Years 1-5, no salary objective. Only objective: trying shit out.Years 4-6, company objective; work with top talent in cityYears 5-7, find a niche or dive into leadership GoalsAdvice: Have specific career goals every year or two, reset them. Maybe you joined a company as a marketing specialist with the goal of learning everything you can about their tech stack to one day become a marketing automation manager. That could be with that company, or another.Tell your boss about your goals, help them help youNever say no to a coffee, especially early onMoonlight/freelanceKeep a solid LinkedIn profile, keep an eye on jobsWhat does it mean to ‘hit’ your ceilingWhat does it mean to hit your ceiling and how do you know you’ve hit it? Is it when you staying in your comfort zone too often. “I learned everything I could” but did you? Is that even possible?Your career needs new stimuli:Growth requires stimulation. If you’re not getting enough in your current environment, it can feel like you’re stalling outNo mentor at your current workplace. This is why you sometimes see a chain reaction when a senior leader leaves Signs it’s time to quitAt what point did you realize it was time to quit? What are the sure signs it’s time to leave a job?Unsupportive coworkers / boss, when your boss/coworker doesn't like you.When you hate going to work, get the Sunday scaries.When you bring that stress home. You feel unhappy at home because of work. When it impacts your health.Your role no longer supports your long-term career ambitionsYou want to work with a different industryYou want to work with a mentor or a team that can level you upYou just “feel” it’s time for a changeYou found an exciting opportunityCareer or role switchSometimes, you just can’t get the opportunity at your current company.If your dream is to be an Marketing Analytics pro, but your company doesn’t invest in the tools you want to advance your careerHow to quit your jobThis is an unsung part of the process. I think that leaving in a respectful manner is incredibly important, and sometimes it’s hard, especially if you’re emotionally invested in the company (negatively or positively)You can determine exactly how but in my mind, it’s definitely worth tying up loose ends and leaving your company in a good position. Aim to leave the company in a better position than you found it.For example, I left Klipfolio on good terms -- and I didn’t leave because I hated my job. I left because I felt it was time to learn from others and work as a consultant. A few years later, I found myself back with the team in a more senior role. This opportunity wouldn’t happen if you burn bridges.OutroYou heard it here first folks, You can't stay at a job to make others happy, your career is yours to controlLeaving a job isn’t always about leaving a bad workplace or bossSometimes it’s time to move on for your own progressSo what’s your north star? ⭐️✌️--Intro music by Wowa via UnminusCover art created with help via Undraw

Hey everyone, today on the show we are joined by Vladlena Mitskaniouk, Director of Digital Marketing at Snyk. Born in Moldova, raised in Ottawa, she’s a communications grad who’s spent her decade plus career carving a craft in digital marketing and marketing analytics.  She got her start at a real estate agency where she learned content marketing before working at MD Financial where she became Digital Marketing Manager and started getting really deep into tracking, analytics, marketing operations and advertising. Vladlena then transitioned to the tech industry where she led a Global marketing analytics and digital marketing team at Trend Micro. She’s now a year into her role as Director of Digital Marketing at Snyk — a security company for cloud native apps on a mission to make the world a safer place with more secure software. Vladlena thanks so much for chatting with us today!Here are the questions we asked Vladlena!Learning about your audienceVladlena, you’ve marketed to consumers in the real estate industry, physicians in the finance industry, Chief information officers in the cybersecurity industry and now developers in the cloud native application industry. Talk to us about your process for learning about your audience and your users when you start a new role?Starting out as a directorTalk us through joining a marketing team at a director level on a remote team. For our listeners, what does that process look like and what are the first 90 days like?BuzzwordsDigital marketing, analytics, operations -- how interchangeable are these to you? What skills are transferable and what skills are net new?Ops and analyticsWhat should all marketers learn about operations and analytics?Demand for technical marketersIMO - The demand for specialized, technical marketers has never been higher. For folks looking to go that path, what advice do you have? How do you get the skills required?Roles at SnykTalk to us about some of the open role(s) on your team, I counted 10 open reqs in the marketing department at Snyk! Continuous learningA quick look at your goodreads profile shows your love of non fiction books (The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail—But Some Don't and Standard Deviations: Flawed Assumptions, Tortured Data, and Other Ways to Lie with Statistics) -- You recently posted about being one of the first LinkedIn Ads certified--what’s the value of certifications from your perspective and maybe talk about how you handle continuous education?Last questionWe always end by asking our guests what tips they have for maintaining a healthy and balanced life?--Vladlena on LinkedIn and twitter.Snyk's site and open jobs.✌️--Intro music by Wowa via UnminusCover art created with help via Undraw

She’s a product of Dalhousie University where she studied Commerce with a major in Marketing Management and completed 3 Coop work terms: first with Excel HR, Syntax strategic and finally Canada Post. Those internships landed her a marketing strategist position at Versature, now net2phone Canada, a local cloud business phone service provider.She’s spent almost 3 years there and has been through a big acquisition. She’ll probably agree that in her time there one of her biggest projects was a big re-branding to net2phone. Danica was promoted last year to Marketing Automation manager where she holds the keys to Salesforce Pardot, one of the biggest marketing automation platforms on the market. She’s certified by SEMRush, Hubspot and Google and she’s also a lights-out brilliant copywriter. Danica, thanks for logging out of pardot for a bit and chatting with us!Here are the questions we asked Danica: Marketers like to make fun of formal business degrees because of how far removed they are from the practical world? What are things that can be self taught that were useful in your first role that you didn’t learn in your degree? What are things you are super thankful you picked up? Walk us through a day in the life, what’s your typical schedule look like? What are some of your favorite projects so far? What advice do you have for marketers looking to transition into marketing automation? How have you invested in your personal development? What do you wish you had known before starting a career in marketing? You joined your company in an entry level role and last year you were promoted to MA manager. Walk us through things you think helped you get promoted and gain trust among your peers?  We always end by asking our guests what ti-s they have for maintaining a healthy and balanced life?--Follow Danica on LinkedInnet2phone Canada✌️--Intro music by Wowa via UnminusCover art created with help via Undraw