Renegade Thinkers Unite: Marketing Tips From Cmos And Expert Marketers

Whether you're considering entrepreneurship or eager to rise another rung on the marketing ladder, now is the time to be thinking about your personal brand and enter the world of content creators. To understand how to navigate this potentially perilous world, you'll need a guide and I can think of no one more qualified than entrepreneur Dorie Clark. The New York Times describes Dorie as "an expert in personal reinvention," and with the release of her new book Entrepreneurial You, she has outlined all the ways to "monetize your expertise, create multiple income streams and thrive!"  Listen now for Dorie's recommendations on content creation, blogging, podcasting, speaking and so much more.     

WNYC’s transformation from a traditional regional broadcaster to a multi-platform media powerhouse offers lessons for just about any marketer, especially those seeking to become world-class content providers. Setting the stage for our extensive conversation, Peter Weingard, CMO of WNYC, explains, “It's like being in a new business all of the time because what the business looks like today is not what it looked like a year ago.” This enlightened perspective is just the beginning of the CMO-worthy insights Weingard offers. New York Public Radio may be a 93-year-old radio station, but it still manages to look brand new. Weingard helps ensure the media outlet remains agile in its offerings to listeners. As Weingard puts it, New York Public Radio is in the curiosity business. In this episode, you’ll learn how to cater to the here and now audience, understanding how to maintain a flexible content approach.

A company without values is like a tree without roots. As soon it faces adversity, it will tumble over. When Denise Broady arrived at WorkForce Software, she was alarmed to find out that the company did not have any written values in place. To make matters worse, WorkForce had an international team with employees spread out across the globe. Broady had her work cut out for her when she decided to rethink the brand’s vision and communicate that message to the whole company. In this episode, you’ll learn how her marketing team convinced fellow WorkForce employees to embrace new core values and amplify the brand message.

Boxed.com is in the business of delivering joy. Whether you work for the e-commerce startup or order from them, there’s a good chance they’ll make you smile. On this episode, Boxed.com’s CMO Jackson Jeyanayagam discusses his role in helping the brand maintain its sparkling reputation. You’ll learn tips for reaching customers emotionally, as well as how to create a specific vision for your company.

Although the Equifax hack put cybersecurity on the priority list for 140 million Americans and scared the heck out of many others, it is hardly a new issue for consumers. Major hacks at Yahoo and Target a few years back put many on high alert. So what is new here and why should cybersecurity be a priority issue for senior marketers?  Well, as it turns out, all that marketing technology you've recently brought into your company has created even more exposure for your company's data and that of the consumers with whom you do business. Sure enough, your pursuit of big data to optimize your sales, marketing and customer experience efforts, have put your companies at risk, in a remarkably big way. And of course, a data breach will inevitably become a brand breach as the folks at Equifax can attest. So batten down the hatches and have a listen as Norman Guadagno, Senior Vice President of Marketing shares his thoughts on why this is such a big problem and some of the steps that marketers can take to prevent or at le

If you’re not focusing on customer experience, you may be missing out on a huge opportunity to build brand love. Dan Gingiss—Senior Director of Global Social Media for McDonald’s—believes in the power of service. He identifies social media as a key medium to address customer questions and concerns. As a published author and podcast host, Gingiss offers professional advice for connecting with audiences and getting involved in consumer conversations. Technical note: Drew apologizes for the sound crackles - he was too close to the mic and hopes it won't distract you from his guest's sparkling insights! He'll try not to make that mistake again. 

Many fuel companies struggle to build loyalty among customers. With so many potential gas options out there, most consumers won’t go out of their way to choose a specific brand. At Shell, it is the job of Dan Little (Head of North American Marketing) to get drivers to go that extra mile. Little and his team launched a rewards program called Instant Gold Status earlier this year that encourages consumers to fill up at Shell on a regular basis. In this episode, you’ll learn how the campaign aims to create brand love and what you can do to improve customer retention.

Is virtual reality putting us on the brink of a new marketing revolution? Google’s creative think tank, Zoo, has initiated a study on VR in hopes of recognizing its full potential. Abigail Posner, who is the Head of Strategic Planning at Zoo, boldly believes that this new technology will show immense promise for marketers in just a few years. In this episode, you’ll learn how some brands are already taking advantage of VR to go from storytelling to story living. Here is a sample Q&A from the interview: Drew: VR has been talked about for years and years and years as the next thing. Are we finally at the point where this is going to become at least semi-mass? Abigail: I think it's a combination of a number of things. One is that we have enough experiences under our belt to recognize the value of it, whether it's gamers playing it, whether it's porn, whether it's the fact that doctors are using it. All of a sudden, there's a range of different worlds that are recognizing its value and it's hitting mainstream

Not all heroes wear capes. Trip Hunter, CEO of Silicon Valley ComicCon, just happens to work with people who do. When he was tasked with creating buzz for the con from scratch in its inaugural year, Trip had just two weapons at his disposal: a renegade mind and Steve Wozniak. Two cons and a couple star-studded celebrity squads later, the event is looking to build on the massive success Trip helped generate. In this episode, you’ll learn the secrets that make Trip one of the bravest marketers in the world today. He has led groundbreaking campaigns for an array of companies like Renegade, Fusion-io, and Primary Data—always looking to boldly go where no marketer has gone before.

Virtual Reality (VR) as a marketing tool is in the very early stages of development which is why we recorded this special episode live from the launch of “The Hard Way – a KFC Virtual Training Escape Room.” In this episode, you’ll learn why KFC spent six months developing this unique training experience and how it fits into to their overall marketing strategy of “re-kernelizing” the brand. By that they mean putting the founder Colonel Sanders back into the heart of the brand and in this case, bringing to the forefront his fanatical attention to the details of the chicken cooking process. Jonathan Minori, the design director at W&K Lodge, the developers behind the app, will help you understand the laborious process of putting together a unique experience like this. And while KFC’s Chef Bob did not reveal the secret recipe, he did explain how they keep secret even from him. 

The goal of Renegade Thinkers Unite is to present you with fresh approaches to age old problems — and this episode does that in spades with guest Jerome Nadel, CMO of Rambus. Nadel will introduce you to the idea of design-led marketing and how rather than just accepting the products as given, CMOs can help drive product development such that the marketing is baked into the outcome. And as Nadel notes, better products are a whole lot easier to sell!  Here's a sample from Jerome's interview with RTU host Drew Neisser: Drew: When did user experience and design thinking really take off? Jerome: As we came into the 2000, the notion of differentiation through user experience became sort of the mantra for product success. So, as we go deeper in the conversation, what I'll suggest is the difference between user experience and marketing or design-led marketing are really minimal. What user experience professionals focus on is the upstream concepting of, what's the narrative that makes product great? Not just in terms

It’s not easy to get a breakthrough marketing strategy off the ground; it’s even more difficult to kick start a new idea in a highly regulated industry. This roadblock didn’t stop Manny Rodriguez, CMO of UCHealth, from developing an eye-opening campaign. Through patient-centric storytelling, he managed to help the university hospital network invigorate its message. This tender approach isn’t just business for Rodriguez. He is a leukemia survivor who underwent many of the types of treatments his team now promotes. Rodruguez’s healthcare marketing philosophy goes against the grain. Hospitals and clinics often showcase their technologies and services in advertisements, much to Rodriguez’s chagrin. “I just believe healthcare marketers in general have lost sight of what matters,” he says. “We’ve gotten away from the fact that what we do is about the patient.” Instead of explaining how great UCHealth’s treatments are, Rodriguez set out to reach patients on a more personal level. Rodriguez wanted his UCHealth’s adve

Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection is not exactly a CMO’s dream situation. In fact, if handled poorly it could be a career-ending nightmare not to mention the potential reputational damage to the company. Fortunately for Avaya, which filed for Chapter 11 in January of 2017, CMO Morag Lucey provided the kind of courageous leadership that leaves one both awed and inspired. Lest you think we are exaggerating, have a listen to this episode and you’ll want to join the Morag Lucey fan club with us. On the podcast, Lucey explains how she helped Avaya weather the storm and come out all the stronger. Here's what you'll learn: How to present a strong business narrative. How to keep your message simple—even in turbulent times. How to draw up a real vision of the future. How to communicate with your employees. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with Avaya when it filed for bankruptcy; Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) were high, and the brand maintained a healthy reput

With great power comes great responsibility. When Lexmark acquired Kofax—an automation software company—in 2015, the now-global business was burdened with the task of streamlining its marketing functions. Kofax CMO Grant Johnson was tabbed for the job. It was Johnson’s duty to institute a centralized marketing plan that the company’s worldwide sectors could follow. Grant Johnson talks about his formula for creating a unified, global marketing strategy in part two of his interview. Host Drew Neisser, accompanied by Inc. magazine author Bill Carmody, ask Johnson about his trials and triumphs. If you missed part one of this interview, please refer to episode 31. Here's what you'll learn: How to unify all employees within your organization. How to harness the power of teamwork. How to integrate positive habits into your marketing strategy, while unlearning ineffective ones. Why simplifying your marketing goals is critical. Here is a sample of the content discussed in this episode: Drew: It’s hard to get our mar

This episode is the first of a two-part series with Grant Johnson, CMO of Kofax, a huge company you made not have heard of unless you're in need of automation software. Grant is a veteran marketer who managed to pull together three separate organizations into one cohesive marketing machine and in the process, discover many keys to successful B2B marketing. My co-host in this in-depth exploration of B2B marketing is entrepreneur and Inc magazine author, Bill Carmody.   Kofax CMO Proves that in Marketing, United We Stand. If “every village has its idiot” had an antithesis, it would be “every community has its organizer.” In any group setting, he or she is that person who naturally brings together disparate individuals with a common bond and, most importantly, mobilizes them for action. At Kofax, that person is Grant Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer. The automation software company was acquired in 2015 by Lexmark, which had recently subsumed two additional software brands. As the new CMO, Johnson set out to unif

Brace yourself for the most inspiring episode of Renegade Thinkers Unite thus far. In fact, our guest Coss Marte, had us choking back tears. His story begins a little over a decade ago, when he kick started his own enterprise as a teenager in front of a New York City bodega. By age 19, Marte’s business was raking in over $2 million dollars a year. He ran into trouble shortly thereafter, and in less than ten years he was scrubbing toilets at a reconstructed hotel to pay his rent. The reason for Marte’s struggles is simple: his business was the business of selling drugs. He was incarcerated at 23 on charges related to peddling drugs, and spent seven years in prison.  Marte, now 31, is a free man and an up-and-coming marketing phenom. Upon his release from prison, he founded ConBody—a prison style fitness program where students work out with minimal equipment. Thanks to Marte’s marketing guts, ConBody is now one of the fastest growing fitness programs in NYC. To be frank, the young entrepreneur probably knows mo

Gone are the days of “just throw it out there” and “let’s see what happens” when it comes to marketing campaigns. The hard truth is that in 2017, we have too much information at our disposal to lean on our instincts and creative prowess to connect with consumers, and today’s leading marketers know this better than anyone. How Take Rob Rakowitz, Global Director of Media at Mars, who was recognized by The CMO Club for his cut-through Content Marketing performance with brands like Uncle Ben’s, Snickers, Pedigree and Whiskas. Rakowitz understands that to drive growth, marketing teams must use a targeted, well-researched approach backed by fail-safe insights—and the simpler the goal, the better. Here are just a few of things you'll learn from this episode:    How to make your marketing campaign stick. The significance of identifying brand purpose and engaging with consumer culture. How to diversify your marketing strategy. Why service is the new selling. Driven by data It could be said that a good marketing theo

Without communication, businesses crumble. Sending a clear message is the only surefire way to get people to care about your brand. This need for coherence isn’t limited to the marketer-consumer relationship, however—all business branches should work in harmony in order to present a sharp brand image. Ann Davids, Senior Vice President and CMO of Direct General Insurance Company, specializes in coordinating her company’s identity on all fronts. In this week’s episode of the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast, Davids explains how a brand identity can become too abstract if it’s not managed well internally. It’s Davids’s duty to weave product language, internal language and consumer language together to create campaigns that customers and Direct employees can embrace.  Marketers should stay in close contact with their fellow departments, believes Davids. When the marketing department at Direct works in unison with the entire office, it can accomplish brand goals from all angles. Davids says, “I’ve often heard it sa

One of the most difficult but important things marketers can do is find a way to make their brand stand out from the competition. This is an especially weighty challenge in the financial industry, as Suzanne Copeland, the former CMO of Sterling National Bank, will tell you. Faced with regulatory restrictions and fierce competition, Copeland applied renegade thinking to separate Sterling from the pack. In this episode of the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast, Copeland explains how the bank’s brand positioning allows it to provide one-of-a-kind customer experiences.  (These show notes were prepared by Jay Tellini.) Creating a unique brand experience is crucial not only to marketing, but also to business success as a whole. At Sterling, this was no easy feat. As Copeland points out, “Everybody tells you that their customer relationship is better. It’s kind of hard to really tease that out to some specifics that explain exactly how you’re better.” Abstract problems like these require creative solutions. For example

Customer experience is at the core of marketing success. Nimble founder and CEO Jon Ferrara explains where and how brands should be targeting their messages in Part II of his interview on the Renegade Thinkers Unite podcast. Ferrara grew Nimble out of the idea that brands do best when customers recommend them to their networks. Nearly nine years later, Ferrara’s business is stronger than ever and venturing into new marketing frontiers. During his extensive tenure in marketing, Ferrara learned that business doesn’t have to be impersonal. In fact, his experience at GoldMine CRM—and eventually Nimble—demonstrates that the best marketing strategies are personal in nature. Ferrara says, “I think the mistake that many businesspeople make is that they make business about business…[but business] is about connecting with people. That’s why they’ll remember you.” Jon walks the walk on that philosophy, sharing both his personal and private social accounts with the people in his network to this day. Ferrara didn’t origin