Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Your go-to digital marketing toolkit: Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders Podcast.
In-depth discussions with leading voices in tech marketing, uncovering the challenges they face and the innovative solutions they're implementing.
Our goal is to provide you with sincere value, perspectives, learnings, and transparent advice you can apply directly to your digital marketing strategy.
This podcast is a proud production of MKG Marketing (https://mkgmarketinginc.com). Our tailored digital marketing strategies for B2B SaaS organizations are transparent and measured: making every impression count.
Follow the action, updates, and learning snippets so you don't miss out on a future episode: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ttwtml/about/?viewAsMember=true
Want to grow faster on LinkedIn with 70 percent less effort? Check out Aware (affiliate link): https://www.useaware.co/?via=mkg
Alexandra you have the ability the ability to message something in a way that is. Empathic. That reflects the emotional state of your audience and sort of captures that in a way that is accurate. So technically accurate and authentic. It's invaluable.
Kerry: Hello, I'm Kerry Guard. Welcome back to Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders. As always, we want to hear from you. We're excited for your questions and your thoughtful conversations that you have on the side and we will absolutely follow up afterwards so we can join in the fun. Today with me, I have been looking forward to this conversation. I'm so glad I didn't have to wait too long.
I'm so glad. Today I have Alexandra Mattiesen, who is an accomplished marketing executive with an extensive experience leading go-to market strategies, product marketing initiatives, and multi-channel growth programs for technology companies. Over her career, she successfully brought products from concept to launch, aligning engineering, marketing, and sales teams to achieve business objectives and drive market presence. Alexandra, welcome to the show.
Alexandra: Thank you so much. I just have to say, particularly now at this point in time when so many in our field are seeking their next role, do you feel like there's almost this cliche for the marketing leader introduction? After a while, it all sounds the same.
Kerry: That's why I don't spend too much time on it because what I care about and what I want is I want your story.
Alexandra: Yes, it's this. We were just talking about this before we started recording Kerry, like the importance of building relationships in the industry and seeking to really know and understand people. Like, what are we here for other than to know and understand other people and personalities?
Kerry: And what makes us who we are is the journey that we've been on. So tell us your journey, Alexandra. What do you do now and how did you get there?
Alexandra: I like this question in part because my background is not traditional. I did not seek a degree in marketing and I try to share that as much as possible because I want people to know that this is a career path, a place in space that can be accessible to them and can ultimately act as a really interesting opportunity to bridge your innate interests and skills. So for me, I am somebody who always knew I wanted to go into brand development. Awkwardly, from about the age of six or seven, I've been fascinated by just the concept of a brand. The idea that we have products and services and we create an overarching aesthetic and present that aesthetic in market and that people ultimately know and understand that product through that aesthetic and even convey that in their own discussions. Like, these are things that people absorb and ultimately impact the way they experience and feel about products and services. Like, this concept alone was mind-boggling to me at a young age and I would try to create brands. I'm sure this is not so uncommon but I look back at it and think, oh that is pretty goofy and yet, right? I've loved it for as long as I can remember truly and that said, I did not go into marketing during my time at the University of Washington. I focused on English composition and literature and I know there is a lot of colloquial language out there regarding the nature of an English degree. It can be sometimes seen as frivolous.
I've never once regretted the decision. If you want to truly excel, not only in marketing, obviously, where understanding the value of a cohesive, coherent message and tone of voice is key to success. Storytelling, like these are things that are so important to success in marketing. Just business broadly. The ability to sit down and create a thoughtful email message that is clear and concise.
That's it and it ultimately has been a huge benefit throughout the entirety of my career. If you have a foundation of really solid writing practice, you're kind of set up for success. I taught myself the Adobe Creative Suite during my time at the University of Washington getting my degree and was lucky in that I graduated knowing kind of exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to go into brand development and I did. I had a really small firm for a short period of time and then ultimately stepped into a more corporate position on behalf of Wagner Edstrom Worldwide, which is Microsoft Corporation's premier communications agency. So that sort of like set me on the path of a technology focus, but that was with a lot of intention because personally, I love technology.
Love it. I am somebody who in another lifetime probably would have sought a computer science degree, but came from the sort of family where women didn't do tech. I had no place or space to look and see someone who looked like me focusing in technology, building a career in technology. And so marketing has served as this really cool opportunity for me to explore something I love on a personal level in a professional capacity. That was sort of like the onset of my career. Over time, I moved from brand development, incorporating elements of communications, product marketing specifically, which is sort of like my sweet spot now. And ultimately building out a whole body of work that has supported a few different really satisfying marketing leadership roles.
Kerry: We are going to unpack all of that in terms of where you are now and some of the things that you've learned. And we're going to bring that to the audience before we get there. I have a few follow up questions. Please. Do you remember what your very first brand was that you tried to create at a young age?
Alexandra: I do. And it's kind of embarrassing, particularly as somebody who's like an independent woman with volition.
Kerry: But you were sick, so we're going to keep that in mind. I was sick, so give me some grace, folks.
Alexandra: I believed this was phenomenal. And you know what, Carrie, maybe this is like, you know, venture 10.0 on the horizon, but it was called sweet petite. Which is like two obnoxiously cute ads, like no, no. And I remember my father had a workshop where he would just, you know, take on different home projects. And I remember finding these wood scraps on the floor of his shop. I think they may have been like the trim pieces from two by fours. So like long two by fours that you might use to frame a home, for example. And I remember taking these ultimately like little rectangles and creating business cards. Like with my crayons, like thinking that I was creating business cards for this entity sweet petite.
Embarrassingly, I don't remember what I believed sweet petite would do in market. I just love the idea of there being this brand. Business card. Business cards, you know, when you are a child, children see, they see like the simple tactical things of any given like an entity. And they're like, that is the entity. Obviously, we know now that is just such a small subset. Those are the sprinkles on top. But I believe that business cards were like the path to the future.
Speaker 2: They were the everything. They were the everything. I love that. My daughter is similar. So I feel like she sees marketing as like podcasting because that's so much of what I do. So she's like, oh, I just need to run a podcast.
Like cool. And so she talks about being like a, you know, on, you know, running her own show and stuff and being a YouTuber. And I'm like, we'll figure that out in the future. But she's also like wants to create designs and fashion. And so it's, I love that. Like cultivating that a young age, no matter what.
Speaker 1: Have you considered just sitting down with her and creating a Figma account? You can get a free account and it would be such a neat in road to learn. Just about. Very basic.
Speaker 2: Okay. Okay. I gave her a Canva account and so she'll, she'll sit there and create these presentations for days. And then she's on a free account. So she's like, ma, I gotta send this to you because you gotta print it out for me because I need all the pictures that are like all pro. So she's like, no, it's a different stream. What she's using.
And yeah, no. So I gave her, because she wanted to do presentations. I was like, I know exactly what you need. I gave her a Canva account and it's been really fun to see her explore that. I'm like, a Figma. That might be the next step up.
Speaker 1: Figma would be cool because that gives you sort of a very gentle in road to vector graphics, which is where it's at. Like if you're going into brand development, you need to be in working in a capacity that can scale and vectors can scale and infinitely.
Speaker 2: So even earlier is even earlier. So my husband designs fonts and he designs, oh, that's cool. And he designs pixel fonts. And so he taught her how to do that. And so she'll just sit there for days designing these little pixel fonts, which are basically another in-road to vector design. So she probably would pick it up between Canva and that she would probably unlock it real easily.
Speaker 1: Right. Oh my gosh. And then you can have her on here and you can interview her on your podcast.
Speaker 2: That should be a marketing leader one day. Oh my gosh. It would be, ah, the dream, the joy. She would love it. She's, yeah, she would absolutely, she would absolutely love it. But I, I mean, the kid's imagination, I mean, that's what we're talking about here of just what you create when you're little, what seems so big and important. And then we find out the truth. But so let's talk about the truth today because of where we are and the, you know, for what you are doing now. I'd love to understand more around, you have this wonderful arrangement of skills you've picked up along the way. And now they're like, they're, they're converging. And so tell us about what you do specifically now and how you've brought those skills together to be successful for your brand.
Speaker 1: Right now I'm in sort of this, like, very easy space. And I say easy in that it's, it's certainly not easy in terms of work and workload, but emotionally, mentally, there is a sense of ease in my day to day. And that is in very real part because I've built a foundational set of best practices. So when I step into a new company, working, taking to market a new product, I have a set of best practices I can draw from to effectively create a functional marketing program quickly, whether that means if I'm working in a zero to one capacity.
So from a product perspective, zero to one, meaning the product currently has no in market presence, we're introducing it to market, going through the launch experience and, and ultimately all of the brass tacks stuff that are required to take a product to market. So, you know, developing the introductory messaging framework working hand in hand with the engineering team. At this point, I have a way that I do these things that feels replicable and scalable and based in areas I've seen that were successful and areas where I failed, like all of those failures and there have been many have been right.
That's where we learn have been incredibly helpful for me to really hone like how do we do this in a way that is not only effective in terms of product service in market presence over time, but effective at a human level, right, like where I can come in and ultimately engage often a highly technical team, a group of developers, engineers and other leaders in a way that is mutually beneficial and satisfying. One of the challenges I see a lot of marketers face is they can be unintentionally positioned as sort of this like how to put it a bit of a point of friction for other people in the organization. There can be this sense of like from the sales perspective, the marketing leader is always kind of putting constraints on how and what I can say or from a leadership position. The marketing leader is always sort of like guiding how and when we'll have a presence and can't we just be and I get it like they're not wrong. A very real part of developing a brand and an in market presence for a product or service is creative constraints and it's important to acknowledge that and part of that is just understanding how to convey the benefits and resulting value to others in an organization in a way that makes clear like we're all on the same team. We all have the same end goal which is revenue generation. That's our clarion call together. We are focused on revenue generation and again part of it is just being at a point where I've gone through this so many times that I know how do I do this in a way that builds a sense of like team and truly camaraderie in the process of marketing. Yes.
Speaker 2: I imagine it helps when you're able to do it more from that zero to one piece versus coming into sort of established teams.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh and you bring up something that is for anyone who wants a career in marketing. I think we need to spend more time in the industry in this space talking about the difference between for example an early stage startup where you're building out a foundational marketing practice to stepping in to say a mid stage startup series B series C. It's a different beast but you're still going to deal with a lot of those like early entity issues that you might experience in early stage. You're not going to have like a well-defined HR team for example and you may have a sense of like freedom and lack of interest in maintaining like day to day practices for acknowledging other people's time and space. That environment can be just as satisfying in different ways and they're just very different professional experiences.
Speaker 2: Very different. Very very different. Different pressures too.
Speaker 1: You just don't have as much independent control when you get to like later stage organizations. Usually you're marching alongside a lot of other people so the ability to collaborate really effectively and thoughtfully is going to be key to success whereas in the early stage world and this is so it's a trope at this point but move fast and break things is sort of a standard in that space. I push back against that because I don't know that moving fast and breaking things has ever been especially advantageous. Marketing for the most part is always a long game in which case. Especially now. Yeah those standards don't make sense but you can still find a way to function in that environment effectively with care.
Speaker 2: There is this continued challenge that I feel like I would love to know from you Alexander having lived in all these spaces. Having combated you know building being able to build teams out of the gate and build this camaraderie initially to then joining an existing team on a bigger scale. What for you is like that one tidbit you could give people around communication that you wish you knew. At any point in time that has been like that a ha moment for you.
Speaker 1: Two best practices I have forged and fortified over the years and they have saved me particularly in terms of just my own mental health in role. One of them is for every meaningful project any especially like a large initiative that's going to encompass a collection of projects. Always kick that off with an introductory meeting to all of your key stakeholders. Make it quick accessible and follow up with prescriptive guidance.
Be tactical. Tell them this is our intention. This is how I need you to integrate with this process over the next you know 30 days 60 days 90 days.
This is our desired and regal and results. Follow up that meeting. This can be a 15 minute meeting with a communication that just clearly concisely outlines each of the points you hit in that meeting and at the close of it be vulnerable. Ask people like at the outset are there any concerns points of friction that you see on the horizon for us. Does everyone agree like this is sort of our desired end goal. I want to be sure that you all like invite people to contribute to the conversation. Also keep in mind it can feel there can be this internal tension in saying asking do you see any potential issues on the horizon for us as a team.
That's the data you need to kick ass. The things they tell you then that gives you the information you need moving forward to say for example three weeks later John you had said you were really concerned about x. This actually did come up at week one like you had suggested but because you had brought that up in our introductory meeting we kind of had a top of mind.
I really appreciate you contributing that because it actually allowed us to really effectively address that head on and this was the result so we're still moving forward. Obviously that is a very like rosy picture of what that could look like but that's like communicating that you are interested. You are listening and that you value your colleagues contributions that you see that they are based in their own areas of expertise. It can be too easy as a marketing leader to want to just sort of steamroll and say this is what we're doing over here and you all need to follow suit.
It's really beautiful to give people the opportunity to contribute and share with them throughout the process like this is how your contribution had a role in our collective outcome. And the second best practice block time on your calendar to do the things you need to do. For example if you are working on developing a messaging framework for a specific initiative that's going to take a lot of time even if you are working from a templated approach that you have proven that you have scaled. Doesn't matter. You are looking at hours of time. Hours of necessary focus. So go into your calendar and very intentionally block that time and something that I have done is I have created this practice for blocking time say over the course of a week I am going to block three days 90 minutes each day to work on that messaging framework. I will then go pull from a template create the working document and link to that document in that meeting block for myself so that when I land on that meeting block it comes up over those three days.
It is as easy as me just pausing everything else and clicking into that document. I have my focus and I block the time so people leave me the F alone. It's so helpful. It is so helpful and then own that time and tell people you know I am really sorry Mary. I can't meet at that time. I am actually focusing on the development of our next marketing messaging framework at that time but how about a later time another day. Like it gives you the volition to ask for the things you need and want professionally.
Speaker 2: Boundaries. Yeah. There are two things I want to say first about the first point you made in terms of communication. When I had the twins my doctor didn't give me all the best advice but one thing he said as a pediatrician that I just loved that I carry with me to this day is that children need two things familiarity and forecasting. The forecasting piece is true for even adults as you just proved. So laying out very clearly what's going to happen in the next 30 60 90 days of this project saying it very succinctly and clearly and then giving people space to absorb and contribute I think is beautiful and exact. I feel like you can more easily get people on board when it is clear when you are clear on what needs to happen versus trying to dance around and over collaborate and then things get real messy real quick. So I love that framework you laid out. Thank you for that gift.
I am going to carry it with me to every project. And the second thing around the calendar piece as I mentioned with boundaries is I had somebody call me she was working at an agency as an account director and she was underwater. She was working in the vehicle the motor industry.
She lived in Detroit and she's like I don't know how to get control of my day. I'm literally just in back to back to back to back meetings. And I was like your calendar is the one thing you have complete control over. Start blocking it off and take ownership of when you will and will not accept meetings.
And she said that was a game changer for her. So yes to figuring out what you have control over and what you can then create boundaries around calendars one of them for sure.
Speaker 1: These are issues that I have found over the course of my career are born often by women in the field. There is this sense that you have to say yes to everything especially centered in the technology sector women only make up about 25 percent of tech roles. We are a natural minority in the field still and it can create this sense of scarcity and uncertainty.
And I think it's really valuable to just put that to words between us and acknowledge. Women often feel this undue need to say yes to everything. But you have to say no so you can say yes when it really matters. Because there will be those times where unexpectedly something comes up and you are the best person at the organization to support like best next steps. You want to be able to have the freedom to say yes in those moments.
It's only going to be possible in a way that feels thoughtful. If you've allowed yourself the freedom to say no all of those other times when it's just not fair. It's not fair that somebody is routinely working for example back to back 12 hour days. And I hear that from so many women in the industry especially now given the current macro economy.
Speaker 2: That's why I built my agency because I was that yes woman for sure. So I needed to create space for us. That's why I did that so that I could have my cake and eat it too. I wanted a family and I wanted to be there with them and I wanted a career. So sometimes you got to go create your own. Yeah. You're an adventure.
Speaker 1: And who wants cake and doesn't want to subsequently eat the cake? Like no thank you. I don't want to just be sitting there looking at a delicious cake.
Speaker 2: It's why I'm gluten free and my daughter loves to bake and I was like baby girl do you know how torturous that is? Do you know how mean that is? I get to make this beautiful thing for you that I can't eat. Right. No. Not doing this.
Speaker 1: This is that moment where I want to say something like but there are really delicious gluten free options. They're really hard to make on your own. I will say the one and I'm going to send you a recipe. There is a flourless chocolate tort in my recipe. Oh my God. It is so good.
Speaker 2: Is that one of those slow baked ones where it's almost like a volcano in the middle?
Speaker 1: Yes. Yeah. I will send you the recipe and it has, I am not gluten free but this is a go to for me and if you do like a nice vanilla bean creme anglais and maybe like a bourbon caramel sauce and shops kiss.
Speaker 2: I'm here for it. Please do. It is my birthday coming up soon and I need a special cake so maybe I will do that for me. No, that's my 19th. I don't know. Oh, you are so soon. Not ready. I'm at that age where it's like, I need to get older. I'm good.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm going to push back on that a little bit.
Speaker 1: I have been like really leaning into owning my age. I think you and I may be similarly positioned. I, in a few months time, will be 40 and I am just like really feeling myself these days and I feel like for the first time in my life, I'm embarrassed to acknowledge this, Carrie, but the first time in my life, I feel like I really know and understand who I am and what I need and want and perhaps more importantly have the confidence to put that towards outside my head.
Speaker 2: I will, I will agree with that. That is one of the hardest lessons. I think as we just said as women, especially, it is one of the hardest lessons to learn is how to put our needs into words and as a also turning 40 year old woman, I am, I don't know, said that out loud so that happens. Yes, I, but I do feel like there are so many times where I'm like, gosh, I so am grateful that I can give these gifts to my daughter sooner that she will have this language and this ability to do these things younger because I, I did not, well, I'm grateful to know it now and can take it with me from here on out. Man, I wish that we had the ability to do it sooner for sure.
Speaker 1: Oh, I really feel like I just fell forward on a person in a personal capacity for the entire like first half of my life just sort of saying yes to everything, sort of aligning to and ultimately supporting all social norms, just wanting to reflect what people expected of myself and women broadly. And now I'm like, I'll take some of that and I'll leave the rest and I'll do so with like a calm clarity that really is, is 40. It is being 40 and I am here for it.
Speaker 2: It is calming and it's everything you're saying too about stepping into this new path of career where it's like, I get it now. I know the framework. I know how to approach this. And it's, it, we're re, we're trying to figure out how to reposition us as a, as a company. So when we started MKG marketing a long time ago, 13 years ago, we were on the cusp of so many firsts. We were completely remote. We were people first. We believed in boundaries and working nine to five and piecing out all these things that created a tenure that was unheard of three to five years.
People would stay with us, right? Working with experts directly for our clients, like all these things that agencies were not doing, we were doing and we had clear messaging around those differentiators and obviously times have changed. And one of the things I've noticed, which goes into what we're saying and where we're sort of starting to position ourselves and find ourselves is in that tenure of having been around the black and that calm, that calm in the storm, while CEOs are freaking out and eating the leads like yesterday, it's like, it's coming. We know how to do this. We know the process. We know what this looks like.
Speaker 1: And marketing is a long game. It's a long game. So having the messaging and the confidence in the messaging to convey to your point, it's coming.
Speaker 2: And be able to forecast that calmly, calm in the story. I love it. 50 plus is not terrible, Trevor. And I cannot believe for a minute if you're trying to tell us that you're over 50.
That is not true. And if it is, man, you go, sir, I appreciate you. And flowers, chocolate, torts, we're going to get the recipe, Trevor, and you and I are going to make chocolate torts. It's going to be awesome. And we're going to show Alexandra pictures. It's going to be great. Yeah. I love it.
Speaker 1: I love it. And come November 19th, we are all going to celebrate your special day.
Speaker 2: My fly friend. Well, I look forward to it. I look forward to it. In terms of, in terms of the being this calm in the storm, having this clarity of being able to work for companies and the framework that you've sort of developed depending on how you're stepping in. And one of the things you and I talked about as a prep, you know, in our prepping situation, prepping call that I loved, that I want to just take a minute to address and make sure I'm living up to our promise that was noted in the card is around the expertise of it all. So having done brand as you have since you were six years old, you've clearly know that side, the marketing side of the house very, very well. But when you're working with very technical brands as we do, there becomes this push and pull of what does expertise even mean and is marketing expertise for the industries that we work in enough.
Speaker 1: For me, this is where my natural love and pension for technology comes into play. So marketing has always been a means for me to explore something I naturally love. And that, that matters. So when I step into a role, say I'm taking a cybersecurity product to market, manage detection and response tool, like I did with Pillar when I was CMO there. I become completely in meshed in the life and lifestyle of the IT professional, the security operation center staff, their security analysts and threat hunters who are ultimately going to be using and utilizing the tool and all of its capabilities and supporting features. This looks like leaning in and being a part of daily standup meetings in a product capacity, understanding in depth, how does the technology, the software itself function? What are its subset technologies?
Really exploring the entire history of the technological advancement of managed detection and response, understanding, for example, the, the in road by way of end point detection and response. And when did that come to the fore? Like when did we need to be attentive to a remote workplace? And how does this enable companies to thrive today versus five years ago versus 10 years ago? Understanding that trajectory can be incredibly helpful and grounding and understanding why each iterative step in technological advancement has proven to be valuable for people in a way that has resulted in the tool you see today. But a lot of this just has required my own interest.
My own volition. And so I'm not saying that you have to have that. You don't have to love like the thing you're taking to market, but it does help.
It helps too, because one of the best practices I have for really familiarizing myself with a product or service is to take on content daily that my primary and secondary audiences are likely to engage. So for example, in the past, I was working for a developer tool company and I would attend virtual developer events. This was during the pandemic, join developer communities, look at message forums and actually look at like technical message forums. So understanding when a developer has an issue, how are they seeking a solution? What do those conversations look like? What is the nature of their ask? Obviously, this wasn't directly relevant to the tool I was taking to market, but was it helpful to see like the message and tone of voice that these individuals were using when they were engaging other developers in seeking a solution?
Absolutely. I would find books, audio books, podcasts that were centered in developer center topics and understand what are some of the secondary topics that developers might be interested in, are they interested in video games or actual game, physical games? Like, what are all of these places and spaces where they have interests and ultimately thrive in their roles? Again, like it almost takes on an approach that's like method acting. Yes.
Speaker 2: Are you familiar with that? It definitely sounds like that where you take on the role and you become. Yeah. Even though you're not actually doing the thing in real life.
Speaker 1: Yes. And here's something I want to prompt all marketers to consider. Imagine if you truly can like gently transition into the mindset of, for example, a developer and in some facet of your life, experience things from that mindset. It makes your work so much easier as a marketer. If the moment when you see a potential value proposition, instead of saying, you know, the thing A and the blah, blah, B and the value C, no, no, like you have the ability, the inbuilt ability to like message something in a way that is empathic, that reflects the emotional state of your audience and sort of captures that in a way that is accurate. So technically accurate and authentic. It's invaluable.
Speaker 2: I feel like for those audiences, developers and IT professionals in particular, their pedanticism is something to navigate. So they'll see through that authenticity very quickly. So if it's not you as the marketer figuring it out, who are you bringing in that can, that it, that is an expert in that industry to double check to help refine to be part of that messaging outreach? I think that's critical, especially in these industries. I appreciate if you don't have a love for wanting to be a developer, but I that you at least have to do that then. Bare minimum.
Speaker 1: Gosh, when I, when I was last working under a developer tool, I actually, this is so goofy and kind of prescriptive, but are you familiar with Khan Academy? Yes. Okay. So it is typically focused on K through 12 environments. They have a few college level courses as well. And I've shared this with other marketing folks, like, say you want to familiarize yourself with what does it feel like to learn to code? I actually went through the entire JavaScript course series in Khan Academy and selected some just simple books that were like in road to HTML CSS. I had some familiarity with that in pass given password, but like really again, in meshing myself in the mindset of what does it feel like to sit down and want to code a solution? Obviously at that point, it was incredibly simple.
Hello world. But like, it is, it is helpful just to know what does it feel like to sit down and, you know, open a command prompt and in act, interact with the computer in a way that reflects something like what a developer might experience every day. Obviously very nascent, very early, but like, and where I am now, I am actually, I love cybersecurity a lot.
And so one of the things that I'm doing is seeking my security plus certification through CompTIA and probably about 80, 85% of the way through the coursework. But it has been invaluable for me. And I'm a little bit embarrassed to acknowledge, Carrie, there have been moments in the coursework where I look back now and realize, gosh, in past campaigns, for example, I could have been a lot more accurate and concise in that messaging. Had I known what I know today in terms of just again, like the foundational coursework that somebody who is a security operations center staff member, something they might be taking on in their day to day reality.
And I know for a lot of people, I want to acknowledge this, that is not going to feel accessible. And if you don't have a personal love for technology, I can wholly appreciate why you would have no interest in seeking a security plus certification. Obviously, I am not going to become a security analyst or threat hunter, no desire. But I will say, if you do have the interest in time, again, it has been so incredibly helpful for me to really like embody that mindset and know the technical content, content in depth.
Speaker 2: It's definitely a mountain to climb. And I'm going to give a little easier example. So I work with both executive coaches and law firms as a fractional leader and marketing leader. And it's very easy to work on those because I am the customer. I need to do a state planning at some point.
This is very helpful to understand what a state planning is, why you would need it. I'm hosting a podcast with the founder of the show simply because I have all these questions and I get to ask the expert. Right. And same with my executive coach, like he's actually my coach. I am the customer. So it's very easy to sit down and write his newsletter from a perspective of knowing what I, why I chose him.
Right. So I know we don't always get that ability, especially in the more technical space to be able to work for clients of the products that we use, but becoming a customer and using it inside and out, I think does make it so much easier to sit down and write that messaging to be so clear and to be so concise. I don't, I don't know that I could do it have, if I was not already meeting these things.
Speaker 1: And, and you bring up something so simple, but so important, asking questions. Just, it is so helpful to allow yourself the freedom to say, I don't know. Can you explain that to me? Ask somebody on your engineering team. Say you're taking again, like an MDR solution to market a tool, a platform. Ask them to say I was a security analyst and I had identified what I thought might be an indicator of threats in a corporation's data. What would I do?
What would my best next step be? Will you show me in the tool? Like give your technical colleagues the opportunity to like show, don't tell what things look like and explain to you why, like, why did you guys design it that way?
Why does the user experience like look like this, feel like this? Like these things are important. And just again, like feeling as comfortable as you can, being vulnerable enough to say, I don't know.
Speaker 2: And actually that goes back to some of the very first points we made about building bridges to internally to teams is that is the best in road is to be curious to not judge why something is being done a certain way, but to want to seek to understand why it's being done that way so you can better facilitate and be a partner to that part of the company is immensely like one of my favorite tools to use is to be curious. I love that. And it brings us full circle. It's a gift.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a gift. It's like it's a perfect way to show your colleagues that you are invested. That you are all marching to the same Clarion call.
Speaker 2: And it has to start with marketers, marketers, you are, you got to build those bridges. That's what we're here for both externally for the brand and internally for your teams. You are, you are the best for that bridge.
So thank you, Alexander, for so many tools and recipes that we get to take with us today. Where can people, people want to continue the conversation. They want to know where else you're learning like Khan Academy. Where can they find you? Where's the best place to reach out to you?
Speaker 1: LinkedIn is the best place to find me. I am really, I am invested in the platform. It's please like connect with me there. Send me a message. I would love the opportunity to share a call and conversation with anybody who's interested. As you and I were saying in our, in our prep time carry, like it is all about relationship. And that is one of the beautiful things about social media is challenging as it can be. It also offers us a chance to connect like you and myself. Met through LinkedIn and look at us now, my friend.
Speaker 2: And I have to say, I reached out to Alexandra on LinkedIn because of her LinkedIn content. It is wonderful. She is an epic storyteller. So definitely connect and follow. I cannot recommend her enough for just endless insights on life and birth, both personal and professional. So thank you for that, Alexandra. Before we go, as we've been mentioning throughout this whole show, we are more than marketers.
You are more than a marketer. And I'd love to know we are in Q4. We are rounding out the year just a few months left. What are you most looking forward to personally in the next less than 12 weeks?
Speaker 1: I'm going to be a real earnest and vulnerable here, Kerry. I am for the first time in a really long time exploring dating. So I wish that I could give you something prolific on the professional front. And there are plenty of things there too, but really top of mind for me in terms of closing out 2024. In good fashion, I would really love to start allowing myself the emotional space and time to explore a romantic relationship. And so that is actually something that I'm focusing on right now with a lot of intention. And I just haven't. I've built this badass career that I love. I've done some really cool stuff and I'm coming up on 40 girl.
Speaker 3: I'm like, you know, it is finally time for me to like, I think I want to date.
Speaker 1: Get out there. Q4. Q4 for dating.
Speaker 2: Ice skating and hot chocolate. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Yes. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: Oh, the early days are the best, especially around the holidays. So go enjoy and just take all of the things we learned through dating as through our childhood and know that just have fun. Like, oh, I wish when we were younger, we didn't have so much angst around it. We can just enjoy the ride.
Speaker 1: Yes. And exactly. Worry, I have forgotten how to have fun. Like I need more fun in my life. And yeah, I'll keep you posted. I'll keep you posted on the dating.
Speaker 2: I can't wait. It's going to be awesome. Go watch. Go watch. Oh, I want to look it up. It's on Netflix. It's this new show that's out.
Speaker 3: Oh, girl. I already ran through all 10 episodes. It's called the one Kristen Bell.
Speaker 2: And then we really helped the O.C. Oh my gosh. I was laughing with one of my best friends the other day, Margaret. And I was like, girl, you're going to be so bummed when you close the first episode because all you're going to be able to think is, damn it, there are only 10. And by the way, I am not even somebody that is especially invested in television.
Speaker 1: And yet I just want to like that is the banger I want to play on repeat.
Speaker 2: I'm only four episodes in, but I made myself stop watching last night. I was like, I have to go to bed. Like I have to go to bed. I have to sort this off, but I am it is a treat.
Speaker 3: It is a treat. Only let yourself do one. A day. Fly by. They're so short. Oh, and they're so good. And it is okay. One a day. It is like, and that man, that man, like the things I would do.
Speaker 2: If you, I mean, it's totally dated now, but he was originally from the O.C. And yeah, that's why my friend was like, you have to watch the show. Seth is in it from the O.C. And I was like, he's back. So, uh, yes, he's back and he's older and he's, yes. Was he ever? Yes.
Speaker 1: He is so fire.
Speaker 2: Well, take that show with you and go find it in real life. And I'm going to follow up with you. It's going to be awesome. I will.
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for this conversation. Thank you so much for your joy, your vulnerability, and all of the great, wonderful life lessons you have brought with you today. I am immensely, immensely grateful.
So thank you. This show is brought to you by MKG Marketing, the digital marketing agency that helps complex brands get found via SEO and digital ads. It's hosted by me, Keri Gards, CEO and co-founder of MKG Marketing. And if you'd like to be a guest, be on me. I'd love to have you on the show. See you next time.