This Marketing Life

The Crisis Series: Marketing Operations is growing in popularity. Business is seeing the advantage of having a Marketer on board with the unique skill set of strategy and big picture thinking, combined with the analytical skills to read and interpret data, to make better business decisions in the future.

On this episode, I am joined by Natali Talevski, Marketing Operations Manager and tech-company SiteMinder in Sydney. Natali is an experienced senior marketer, with a passion for technology, AI and automation.

We discuss:

• A typical day for a Marketing Operations Manager, and if it's any different to a Marketing Manager
• Trends with martech and its role in marketing management
• Why the skills of "creativity" is so important for marketers

Please note: The audio started mis-syncing 10 minutes from the end, so we accidentally talk over each other a little bit. It was a glitch with the recording software, and I’m sorry in advance.

Crisis Series: We are all experiencing major disruption, due to this global health crisis and pandemic. This time is testing every marketer's ability to pivot, their knowledge across multiple tools and channels, as well as the test of working remotely and communicating effectivity with their team.

My guest, Malavika Sudheesh, has been working overtime as a Marketing Executive at CMC Markets in Sydney. Being a self-proclaimed Marketing Generalist, she gives some amazing insights into technology, keeping skills up-to-date and more...

We discuss:

• How the pandemic and remote working has impacted her role
• What the fintech industry is like
• Future marketing trends

Crisis Series: Imagine a perfect world, where sales and marketing unite, and work together hand-in-hand with the customer experience in mind... This is the world that is possible, with some egos left at the door, and some better processes in place to get everybody rowing in the same direction.

My guest, Peter Strohkorb, Executive Consultant and founder of Peter Strohkorb Advisory, spends his days working with companies striving to improve their sales and marketing processes and boost productivity, and revenue along the way.

We discuss:

• The problem with sales teams doing business-as-usual
• Ways that sales can improve, with ownership from the top
• Sales and marketing collaboration in 2020

Crisis Series: Video content and video marketing is doing incredibly well in 2020. Despite the crisis and pandemic, video is booming... offering businesses and personal brands an affordable and versatile channel to reach their ideal audience.

In Episode 6, I chat with Gideon Shalwick, YouTube and Video Marketing Expert for over a decade, as well as an entrepreneur and founder of Splasheo.com, a video service optimising video for social media.  Gideon knows video...

We discuss:

• Video strategy
• Video processes and swimming lanes
• Using video for content marketing
• and more...

Crisis Series: The event industry has been destroyed by the outbreak of COVID19, and the lockdown and social distancing the ensued. This brings urgent changes to the event industry and forces marketers to pivot towards virtual events and digital events.

My guest today is Hayley Lemon, the National Event Manager at News Corp in Sydney.  Hayley is a talented event marketer, with over 15 years experience, and has been on the front line in dealing with the cancellation of in-person, live events.

We discuss:

• The rapid transition from physical events to virtual events
• Softwares and technologies for online event management, presenting and marketing
• The future of events and whether hybrid events will be the norm

Crisis Series: Podcasting is becoming one of the most powerful mediums in the world for communicating. It has taken the original, ridiculously expensive radio show, and made it available to anyone with the desire to communicate or tell stories to an audience.

In this episode, I chat with good friend, and NEW podcaster Deborah Wallace, who is an inspiring woman in leadership, Senior Business Sales Executive at Domain Group, enthusiastic yachtswoman, and founder of the Sailing Women's Network.

Due to the huge demand for content from her network, Deborah decided to start a podcast - Women in Sailing.  If you are thinking of doing the same, you will get a lot out of our conversation.

We discuss:

• Planning and managing the podcast
• Finding guests
• Promotion and insights on production

Crisis Series: Marketing leaders are being tested like NEVER before.  We are all experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully) health pandemic, and marketing plans were dropped like hot potatoes in March 2020.

My guest in this episode is Akshay Sardana, Acquisition Marketing Manager at Optus, and the AMI Future Leader of the Year.  Akshay is a trail-blazing, marketing leader, who is on the front foot when it comes to technology, thinking fast, and pivoting during a crisis.

We discuss:

• What is going on? Which marketing leaders are shining?
• What's the difference between a Marketing Manager and a Marketing Leader?
• Where does AI, AR and marketing technology fit in the near future?

Crisis Series: PR is often used during a crisis, but what does it mean when we are all experiencing a global pandemic?

I am chatting with Sharon Zeev Poole, Founder and Director of highly regarded boutique PR and communications agency Agent99 in Sydney, Australia.  Sharon and I discuss what the PR industry has been experiencing since the pandemic and lockdowns begin, and what campaigns still work during this crisis.

We discuss:

• Impact on the Australian PR Industry
• What are the most important PR skills when there is a crisis?
• Examples of good PR from big brands

Crisis Series: Marketers around the world, and across Australia, have been made redundant in the thousands since the start of March 2020. We are all grappling with how to deal with this pandemic, including the impact it will have on our marketing careers.

My guest on this episode is Michael Barry, Senior Recruitment Consultant at Sharp & Carter in Sydney, Australia.  Michael and I talk about what has been happening with businesses, and marketing jobs in 2020 so far.

We discuss:

• The state of marketing recruitment in Australia in 2020
• Remote working and flexible working moving forward
• Changes to the recruitment process
• Recovery and timeframes for marketing professionals looking to work

What does it mean to be a data-driven or data-informed marketing manager? It certainly cannot happen in a silo, as it is crucial to have leadership on board promoting the benefits. It requires knowing the business goals and exactly what you need the data for. You also have to choose your tools wisely, starting with less is more. There is so much more than just the data, to be data driven. This is what I unpack in this episode.